


Petty

by xSilverEnigmatic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Dating, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Obliviousness, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, adam comes in waaaay late in the story, broganes, copious amounts of blushing, probably lots of cliches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-06-18 03:24:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 64,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15476601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSilverEnigmatic/pseuds/xSilverEnigmatic
Summary: The world around him went hazy except for the boy standing before him as his words swirled around on repeat in Keith’s mind.Let’s go out… Let’s go out… Let’s go out…Keith gave a short nod and managed to follow after Lance despite not feeling the ground beneath him.The walk brought Keith back to that Monday where things changed between them.Just a few days ago thoughts of Lance only brought to mind pranks and fights and annoyance. Keith may have gotten to know Lance well, understanding his personality behind all their bickering, but he never really got toknowLance. He didn’t think about him past ‘that annoying guy who thinks he’s sooo funny’, not until Lance exposed an underlayer himself, and the rest made itself clear in between the lines of all their fights.





	1. He learned to appreciate

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I wrote this story to have no plot and just be two idiots in love and trying to get each other's attention with pranks and stuff. It was gonn abe a chill fic in which I wrote whatever came to mind. BUT THEN the story sort of escaped me and this was born as a result.

~He learned to appreciate~

Lance met him in their first semester of high school, gym class. Pidge—the tiny 13-year-old genius debuting as the school’s youngest high schooler—was the one who recognized him.

“Oh right, I forgot we’d be going to the same high school,” Pidge muttered, after abruptly stopping in the gym entrance. The trio had organized their schedule to be almost identical so Lance and Hunk were by her side and followed her gaze.

Most students were sitting in the pulled out bleachers on one side of the gym, waiting for the teachers to arrive, but Pidge was looking toward the courts where a few people were passing time with volleyball or basketball. Lance’s eyes were drawn to one guy, small in stature but filled with boundless raw energy as he dribbled a basketball and shot hoops alone. His dark hair was tied back in a small ponytail, but his bangs and smaller locks of hair slid out, messy yet framing his face attractively.

Lance was _not_ ready to be thinking like that about a _boy_. It was the competitive spirit he was being drawn to, that was it, Lance told himself. He strode onto the court, approaching the loner, who was readying to take another shot. He was vaguely aware of Pidge telling him something in a warning tone, but neither of his friends moved to follow or stop him.

“Hey!” Lance greeted in his most friendly manner, but he still managed to startle the other teen out of his concentrated state. The boy flubbed the throw, ball sailing far from the hoop and bouncing on the retracted bleachers behind it. It bounced back to him and he caught it before turning to glare at Lance.

Lance tried not to wince under the boy’s hostile gaze and determinedly held out a hand. “I’m Lance. I was wondering if—“

Before he could even finish asking for a game with the boy, he had none-too-gently shoved the basketball into Lance’s chest and stormed right past him.

Lance held the ball to his chest in shock at the sudden rejection, but anger quickly brought him back and he whirled around and exclaimed, “Hey, what’s your deal?!”

The boy ignored him and continued walking, sitting on the isolated side of the bleachers, arms crossed, and glaring at a wall to his side. Pidge and Hunk at last rejoined Lance. Hunk offered to play basketball with him despite being no good at it, while Pidge told him, “Keith’s like that to everyone, so don’t take it personally.”

_Keith_. Lance repeated the boy’s name in his head seethingly.

From then on, Lance declared Keith his rival, competing with him in all activities in their gym class, whether it was a competitive activity or not, or whether they were on the same team or opposing teams. It got easier and easier to goad Keith into fights, to grab all of Keith’s attention just by being nearby, and Lance always felt sick sense of giddiness whenever he managed to get a reaction out of his rival, who was otherwise barely responsive to the world around him.

***…One year later (approximately)…***

Lance was snickering loudly and mischievously. Keith could hear it from where the loud boy had rounded up his cronies— _Ugh, I didn’t just think that word—_ to walk purposefully behind him.

Keith turned to glare at Lance, but the moment he turned, the cheeky jerk blatantly looked elsewhere, whistling all too innocently. Pidge elbowed him, but she and big guy (Keith couldn’t for the life of him remember his name, only that it was a strange name) were stifling giggles of their own.

Evidently, they were going to play innocent and Keith was too tired on this particular Monday morning for another exhausting confrontation with the Garrison trio.

Keith turned around with a huff, but once his back was facing them again, their muffled laughter started right back up with new fervor. He scratched self-consciously at the tufts of hair sticking out all over at his neck but didn’t find anything stuck to it.

He had made a habit to always check randomly ever since the time Lance had managed to get a paper airplane stuck into his hair, with annoyingly good aim from where he had sat that class period. The plane had openly stuck out from his neck for all to see, yet no one did anything but follow Lance’s lead in the mockery and he only discovered what all the snickering at school was about once he was home and Shiro plucked it out of his hair in amusement.

Keith quickened his pace but couldn’t avoid hearing a few snorts of laughter from people behind him. Something on his back then.

Keith all but ran into a bathroom. Safely alone, he took off his jacket and found a post-it note on the back, “KICK ME” written on it with a thick sharpie.

Anger washed all his exhaustion and reasons for exhaustion away as Keith plucked the note from his jacket and crumpled it up, growling, “Reaaaal mature, Lance.”

He glanced around the bathroom, but no one else occupied any of the stalls or urinals, so he crouched on the ground to rifle through his satchel and find his own stack of post-it notes.

***

Keith had his next class with only Lance, but Lance was still the worst out of the three since he was the one proactively trying to annoy Keith every which way while the other two just followed suit.

Although Lance was sometimes surrounded by other friends, he was rarely seen without his two sidekicks other than classes they didn’t share. The three had managed to schedule their classes to be almost exactly the same for all of their freshman year last year, so they were barely separable in that respect too.

As for this year, Keith suspected Lance had somehow figured out Keith’s class schedule and had his schedule match the best he could for this year. He couldn’t possibly understand why Lance would go so out of his way to figure out Keith’s schedule—Keith has no other friends and barely any acquaintances and the only way to figure out his schedule would be to basically stalk him (but Keith wouldn’t be so surprised if Lance stooped so low)—other than how much harassing Keith seems to get him off.

Keith took his usual seat in the second row, and as usual Lance entered class just on the verge of being late and rushed to his seat behind Keith. He could tell the moment Lance spotted the post-it note on Keith’s back when Lance started sniggering all over again (like the child he was) and then he could tell the moment Lance realized it wasn’t the same post-it note he had stuck on his back.

“THE ONE ON YOUR BACK IS FUNNIER,” Keith had written.

There was a pause and Keith waited a few seconds for the idiot to process what the sticky note said before he glanced back and smirked at the dumbstruck boy. Keith turned back just as the teacher stood up from her desk to begin today’s lesson, but she sharply looked in their direction when Lance’s ruckus began.

Keith could hear his surprised squawking (that was a rare delightful sound Keith managed to pull out of Lance on particularly successful pranks and it pleased him to bits to hear it now), clothes rustling, and the chair scooting back. Keith imagined Lance grappling at his back in a panic to find whatever (nonexistent) embarrassing post-it Keith had somehow stuck on him.

“McClain!” Miss Dayak said sharply, and Lance immediately froze. Keith cringed away from her stern expression and turned in favor of seeing Lance’s frightened state. He almost snorted out loud at the expression on Lance’s face and the pose he was sporting.

Their teacher smacked her lecture pointer stick against her desk, making a satisfyingly loud whack, and continued shrilly, “By all means, continue your theatrics in your drama club, but it has no place here in ancient history class!”

Lance flinched and sat down meekly, head hanging low and face understandably paling at the sight of Miss Dayak and her favorite lecture stick which she always abused her poor board and desk with. The rest of the class was filled with muted amusement at Lance’s expense but no outright laughter was made before the strict teacher.

Miss Dayak promptly started class and only once she was absorbed in her lecture did Keith chance another smirk back at Lance, who shot him a withering glare in return.

When class ended and Keith was planning to discard his post-it note, he realized Lance was in perfect range and a rare opening usually occupied by Lance’s surrounding friends revealed itself to Keith. He crumpled the sticky note into a ball and flicked it Lance’s way. It smacked Lance right on his face and, to Keith’s immense satisfaction, Lance reacted in overdramatic surprise to the hit, making the flick look all that more stronger than it was.

He held his cheek, turning to the offender in complete dismay. When he met Keith’s eyes, his dismay turned into anger all in the space of a second. Easily weaving through desks and people, Lance stormed over to Keith. Keith crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes in return to the taller boy leering down at him.

“Sorry, I was aiming at the trash. I didn’t think my aim would be so dead-on.”

Lance gasped. “My face is a piece of art! Your dumb ass just can’t appreciate it. And you put that post-it on yourself! You did it to get me trouble in _this_ specific class! I’m pretty sure I’m on Miss Dayak’s hit list now, thanks to you. Don’t think I’m not onto you, Kogane.”

“You did that yourself,” Keith shot back.

“You started it with the trick note!”

“Do you not even remember who put a note on who’s back to begin with?” Keith’s voice cracked amidst all his exasperation with Lance. “You also were the one who started the whole sticking things in my locker before I did.”

“I’ll stick _you_ in a locker!” Lance shouted back just before Keith could list more of Lance’s antics. He lunged right into Keith’s face, their foreheads smacking painfully together as they glared at each other.

Just in time, Lance’s friends came and intervened. Big guy bodily dragged Lance back by his arms, while Pidge made herself a physical barrier between Keith and him.

Pidge sighed tiredly, “Stop, guys. Do you wanna get suspended?” _Again_ , she didn’t add.

“Leave it, dude. It’s like free entertainment in this boring school,” their classmate Rolo snorted, from where he was leaning against his desk and crossing his arms.

A girl—Nyma was it?—chimed in from next to him, “The whole school knows to leave them alone.”

“If we _actually_ left them alone, they’ll kill each other,” Pidge huffed. “On Friday—“

Keith didn’t stick around to let them make a joke out of him and Lance when it was obviously all Lance’s fault for always instigating fights with him. Well, it started that way anyway. Keith wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, so he couldn’t be faulted for anything he did in retaliation to what Lance started.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going? Backing down so easily?” Lance taunted form behind, but he was likely still being held back by his friends since he didn’t give chase.

Good. Keith remembered why he wasn’t in the mood to deal with them today. Exhaustion seeped right back into him, sinking into his bones, settling weight in his shoulders, spine bowing to it in a poor-postured slump. If only Lance would just leave him alone just for today.

However when Lance really did leave him alone for the rest of the day, that somehow made Keith feel worse instead.

***

Keith had biked to school, however he didn’t use his bicycle to go back home. He took the handles and walked his bike instead to take a leisure walk to his destination. He eventually arrived at the flower shop and was quick to buy a bouquet of lilies.

“Buying flowers for someone special, lover boy?”

Once Keith was out of the shop, Lance ambushed him at the entrance, smirking at him. Keith narrowed his eyes at Lance, a spark of… _something_ lighting in his chest, but Keith was quickly reminded of the lilies in his hand and his eyes fell away from Lance’s smirking mouth.

His shoulders slumped from their tense line and he sighed, “I’m not in the mood today, Lance.”

Keith turned away and wondered how to grab his bike handles with his hands occupied by a bouquet, but Lance took up the handles and walked to bike up to Keith’s side. Keith was almost compelled to feel touched if only Lance didn’t open his big mouth.

“Well who else am I gonna annoy all day today? ‘Cause that’s _my_ mood today.” Lance made a large sweeping motion with his hand, almost smacking Keith in the face. Keith began walking away, so Lance quickly returned his hand to the handle and followed after him. “Hey, you’re not actually planning to leave your bike behind, are you? You’re not getting rid of me that easily, mullet!”

When Lance’s goading continued to not affect Keith’s mood, he stopped talking, much to Keith’s surprise. He was so sure Lance would continue babbling at him the whole day as promised, but Lance fell into the silence easily and didn’t leave or pedal away with his bike or anything. (Lance had attempted to steal away with Keith’s bike once, and Keith still had bare remnants of all the scratches he’d gotten when he tackled Lance off his bike and they both tumbled into brambles.)

Keith snuck what should have been a quick glance at Lance who seemed to be lost in his own mind as he stared skyward. He thought about making a biting remark about Lance being lost in the clouds and not watching where he’s going like an idiot, but Lance’s eyes seemed to reflect the skies, bright and blue. Clouds partially covered the sky and Lance did truly seem to be lost in them. Lance watched skies in the distance in front of them, lips forming a soft smile Keith had never seen before. Keith then realized he was staring at Lance’s lips again and grimaced at himself before turning away.

Lance was a constant annoyance in Keith’s life. Every day was a new prank to counter or a new small thing to fall into a heated argument about. Lance terrorized Keith every way he could whenever he could, but the way Lance was walking with Keith, walking his bike for him, walking _beside_ him in friendly and comfortable silence, made something itch beneath Keith’s skin almost imperceptibly but just enough to make him want to squirm.

He didn’t know the boy walking beside him outside of the rivalry he had started one-sidedly with Keith last year.

They eventually reached the cemetery. It was a fair distance to walk, but Lance had remained weirdly civil the whole time and upon reaching his destination, Keith finally chanced another look at him and saw Lance’s grim expression. Keith’s grip tightened around his bouquet.

He found his way to his father’s grave and slowly knelt onto the grass before the tombstone. Lance lingered a few feet away uncertainly, but Keith wasn’t entirely sure what to do with Lance’s presence either, so he decided to ignore him.

He placed the bouquet in front of the tombstone and murmured, “Hey, Dad.”

Lance’s sharp intake of breath carried to Keith’s ears over the light breeze. His presence alone made him hard to ignore, but Keith didn’t mind it. Rather, he was surprised to find the usual hollow pain in his chest felt strangely and distinctly _not_ hollow. The pain was there, it was real and ultimately _better_ somehow, simply because both he and Lance could acknowledge his heartache existed.

Keith blinked rapidly, tracing his fingers over the inscription engraved in stone. He never had anything to say each year he came here. He came with flowers like it was an obligation and left just as quickly as he came because he’d rather pretend he wasn’t miserable alone in his room than pretend out in public. It was also why he never allowed Shiro to come with him to visit his dad’s grave. Keith always preferred to be alone. It was what he’s always known, what he was used to.

Now, he felt like he had something to say, but he was at a loss for what. No words would translate from his mind to his mouth. He continued to trace each letter of his dad’s name slowly, his lips tightly pressed together as he thought.

He was just reaching the end of the letter ‘e’ of his own last name when a shoulder brushed his. He turned to see Lance was crouching down next to him, falling onto his knees in an imitation of Keith’s pose.

“Hi, Keith’s dad,” Lance said.

Keith’s hand fell and Lance’s hand came up to touch the spot his fingers left as if chasing his hand. Keith flushed at his own train of thought.

Strange thoughts for a strange situation, decided Keith.

“I’m Keith’s classmate and rival, Lance,” Lance greeted as if actually in casual conversation with Keith’s dad, but there was a serious note in his voice. “I’m here with him because I made it my mission to annoy him for all of today, so he couldn’t get rid of me if he wanted.”

Lance laughed lightly and Keith watched him quietly.

“You know your son is in the top ten percent of our year? As expected of someone I chose as _my_ rival. He doesn’t even know it himself, I bet, since he doesn’t really pay attention to anything or anyone around him, because he’s too cool, y’know.”

He waved a wand nonchalantly with a scoff and Keith realized he almost seemed to be…praising Keith in the guise of mockery.

“So yeah, Keith’s pretty much the object of envy in school. It’s an endearment more than an insult because _everybody_ loves him as much as they envy him. Not—Not me of course. He’s my rival. But yeah. You’ve got a good kid here.”

Lance patted Keith’s shoulder. His smile seemed to fall into something more awkward and shy by the end. “Anyways, uh, it was nice meeting you. Oh, and I didn’t bring anything in advance since I was sorta tagging along, but here.” Lance brought out a small, crumpled origami lily folded from a post-it note.

Something wholly _not_ unpleasant bubbled up in Keith’s chest at seeing the impromptu gift. Despite the fact that the flower was small enough to hide in the palm of his hand, it spoke volumes of sincerity much larger than Keith’s obligatory bouquet.

Keith didn’t realize he was staring starstruck at the paper flower until Lance’s voice murmured right by his ear, “I’ll just wait out by the gate whenever you’re done.”

Keith could only nod in response, but he doubted Lance saw it since the tall boy quickly averted his gaze and was scrambling out of there with Keith’s bike. Keith stared after him a while then turned back to the tombstone. The words caught in his throat suddenly felt free of whatever was trapping them and poured out.

“That was Lance. He’s my _self-proclaimed_ rival, though I have no idea when and why he decided that,” Keith said, imagining his dad was truly listening. “Anyway, I’ve been the same as I usually am. That is, Shiro has taken good care of me. Oh, Lance was making up all that stuff about me being the ‘object of envy’ and stuff, by the way—I’m pretty sure he’s making it up anyway… He made it seem like I’m the center of the school’s attention, but I’m actually just the loner, which I’m used to,”—Keith winced and hid it with a casual shrug—“but he’s the one always surrounded by people.”

Keith paused, taking in the breeze that seemed to the flow around him in the likeness of a gentle embrace and suddenly he felt so much lighter.

“Every year for six years, I’ve come here and it hurt too much. It should’ve been the same today,” Keith murmured, stroking the lilies of his bouquet. “I’m not sure how it ended up so different this year. I know I didn’t visit last year.”

Keith closed his eyes, willing away the memory of antiseptic scents and the white hospital walls and the stiff couch and beeping of the monitor and Shiro’s pale, unconscious face…

“I learned to appreciate what—who I have,” Keith said, concentrating on memories of Shiro that morning instead, smiling at Keith and forcing him to eat breakfast. He tried to reminisce about recent memories of him, but he found that he had too many memories of Lance and his stupid antics occupying his recent memories.

Admittedly, Keith gave just as much as he took in the stupidity department with Lance. They really caused too much trouble together, and usually the memories didn’t give Keith any unpleasant feelings, rather, he found himself smiling.

“I think there are others I haven’t even realized have been around me,” Keith mumbled thoughtfully, turning his gaze to the crumpled flower, then he laughed a little as he fixed the crooked paper petals. “They’re the Garrison trio in my head, since they all went to that elementary school also. Him, Pidge, and uh, the big guy. I have to learn his name again somehow.” Keith shook his head, getting back on track. “I wonder if I was allowed to stay in the Garrison…would we have become friends eventually?”

Keith played with the paper lily for a while, thinking. In the end, he sighed, dropping the thoughts circling in a jumble in his head. “Not that they’d ever even want to be friends with me,” he muttered to himself.

A chilly breeze ruffled his hair and he looked up. Pink and orange hues painting the sky and realized he’d spent way longer than intended, sitting there reminiscing. Lance probably left hours ago.

“Bye, Dad. Till next year, I guess.”

Keith was certain Lance had left, so when he came out to the gate and saw Lance leaning against it, staring up at the sky once again and Keith’s bike next to him, he was understandably shocked.

“Lance, why—you waited this long?” Keith asked in disbelief.

Lance startled then pushed off the wall and scratched the back of his neck. “I got lost in thought?” He then stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and huffed, “And I already told you I’m dead set on annoying you all day today!”

Keith glanced at the darkening sky and said, “It’s not even day anymore.”

“Well it’s not midnight yet either. The day’s not over in my book,” Lance said, waggling his finger at Keith triumphantly.

His smile was quickly washed off his face when the loudest stomach grumble Keith had ever heard sounded from Lance’s stomach. His face promptly turned tomato-red while Keith hid a smirk in his hand.

Keith addressed Lance’s stomach, “You’re right, I’m hungry too.” He then looked up at Lance who was opening and closing his mouth, embarrassed beyond words. “You’re dead set on annoying me for the whole day right? I guess you’re going to follow me to eat dinner. There’s a place I really like, c’mon.”

Lance continued to stare dumbly at Keith, speechless, but followed Keith nonetheless, still walking his bike for him without a complaint, even though Keith’s hands were free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I apologize. I am still trying to figure out AO3, but I'm getting there. I also suck at replying to comments but they are oh so encouraging, I read every one so please feel free to drop a comment, kudos, and all that!


	2. He is distracted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am in awe that people liked the first chapter, I wasn't expecting it! I'm working on this story while also taking summer classes, so it may be posted slowly at times.

~He is distracted~

“Cafe of Lions?” Lance read the sign of the small restaurant slowly, head tilting sideways. “Never heard of this place. And it’s small. Why lions?”

“Shut it, just give it a chance. There’s only two people as staff, but this place is popular enough with regulars and they make good food,” Keith said, as he took his bike from Lance so he could lock it on the bike rack.

Lance followed him inside, looking everywhere in fascination all the while. No other customers were in that Monday evening. Seeing Lance observing everything made Keith look at his and Shiro’s favorite cafe with new eyes.

It was a small, minimalist cafe, light-colored wooden floors and white walls enclosed the space and made it look larger than it was. Clean streaks of bright blue accompanied all the white furnishing, tables, and chairs pleasantly. The cafe displayed sophisticated beauty in all its simplicity.

Keith loved the place all over again. It was like a second home.

“Hey, Allura,” Keith greeted, as the silver-haired beauty emerged from the kitchen at the sound of the entrance chiming when they entered.

Lance’s jaw dropped at the sight of her. Even in plain clothes under an apron, Allura’s face alone spoke of royal elegance and her hair was an eye-catching silver, a nice contrast against her dark skin. Everything about the cafe described Allura too, Keith thought in realization.

“Keith! It’s so good to see you. Shiro came by for a drink earlier, you know. He’s worried about you,” Allura said. She then noticed Lance next to him and brightened. “Oh, you brought a friend!”

“That might be one way to put it.” Keith gave her a wry smile then glanced at his tagalong who was too enamored with Allura at the moment. Rolling his eyes, Keith elbowed him in the ribs. Lance let out an undignified grunt and rubbed his side, glaring at Keith. 

He recovered quickly though and leaned on the counter, smiling at Allura. “I’m Lance, and _you_ must come from space, ‘cause you’re outta this world.”

Keith snorted, immediately earning Lance’s attention. “She’s from England,” Keith corrected.

Lance frowned at Keith and opened his mouth probably to say something else stupid, but before he could respond, Allura’s laughter rang out. She smiled brightly at Lance and said, “It is so nice to meet you, Lance. I’m Allura. My uncle Coran and I are the owners of this cafe. I hope our menu will be to your liking.”

Allura gestured behind her where food and drinks were listed. Lance looked up at it for a while then asked, “What’s food goo?”

“It’s some healthy pudding Coran made up,” Keith answered. He then added, “It’s green.”

Lance wrinkled his nose. “Is it pistachio?”

“No, and it’s much greener than pistachio pudding. It’s _aggressively_ green.”

“Enough with your discouraging comments to my customers, Keith,” Allura huffed. “You’ve never even given Coran’s food goo a chance, so you can’t bash it.”

“I’ll have some food goo then!” Lance declared. “Keithy-boy here will too.”

“What!” Keith exclaimed. “You can’t order for me!”

“I just did.” Lance shot a smug look at him as he slammed down several bills on the counter. He then covered Keith’s mouth before he could protest while trying to push the shorter boy away as he listed off orders of food and drink for both of them. Keith struggled against him in annoyance, but Lance fought back just as hard.

“Keep the change,” Lance said, a little breathless from keeping Keith at bay, and winked at Allura.

She brushed him off with an amused smile before joining her uncle in the kitchen behind the curtain. Once gone, Lance screeched as he jumped away from Keith, hand flailing.

“Did you _bite_ my hand?”

Keith bared some teeth at Lance in a challenging smirk. Lance lunged at Keith, making a show of licking his other hand and reaching for the other boy. Keith yelped, trying to get away, but lankier boy grabbed hold of him before he could get to a seat and rubbed his defiled hands all over Keith’s arms and stomach.

“Ugh, that’s so gross!” Keith struggled to escape his grasp, but Lance took away his purchase on the ground by lifting him up, so he stuck with flailing his arms and legs.

At least Lance was no longer rubbing Keith all over since he had to concentrate on keeping hold on the flailing boy. That had made Keith feel things extremely inappropriate for the moment.

Lance dug his face into Keith’s back, keeping his head safely out of the way of Keith’s flying elbows, and Keith could hear Lance laughing and mocking his shorter stature.

“Oi! No roughhousing in our establishment!” Coran’s voice bellowed, making them both freeze to look at the older man who had stuck his head out from behind the curtain and was giving them a stern look.

They practically jumped apart and bowed at Coran, mumbling apologies. Coran smiled at them and said, “Save it for elsewhere, gentlemen. I remember when I used to have a lot of friendly punches with my friends back when I ran with the gangs! Of course I always won.”

The two high schoolers both exchanged bewildered looks, but Coran disappeared back into the kitchens without elaborating.

Once he was gone, they looked at each other again, and the challenge Keith spotted in the other boy’s eyes as moved toward a table told him everything. In a split-second they were both launching themselves at the nearest chair and Keith laughed in delight when his hand touched the chair first. Lance groaned, sulking in the chair across the table.

By the time Coran was setting their orders on their table, their bickering had somehow led to Lance giving Keith a whole monologue about the reasons _High School Musical is not of a a stupid movie, what are you, blind_ and _deaf, mullet boy?_ (To be honest, Keith had never even watched High School Musical. He just liked seeing Lance riled up.)

“Thanks so much,” Lance said as Coran emptied his tray of their food onto their table.

“It’s my pleasure,” Coran said, smiling widely at them. “Enjoy, boys!”

Once he was gone, Lance remarked, “Holy crow, do you see that mustache? That’s impressive.”

Keith snorted, “Are you going to try growing a mustache too? It won’t suit you at all.”

“Aww, mullet, did you just try to tell me you like my face the way it is?” Lance asked teasingly as he pushed aside his sandwich in favor of poking his spoon at the jiggly green goo.

Keith scoffed, but quickly shifted his gaze from Lance’s— _sort of_ nice—face to his own sandwich and food goo.

“Man, this stuff really _is_ green,” Lance commented and added with a small frown, “and lumpy-looking. Are you sure this is edible?”

Keith huffed, “I wouldn’t know. I avoided ordering it for a reason.”

“You mean, for shallow reasons,” Lance pointed out, flicking the spoon toward Keith and launching some food goo.

Keith moved away with a look of distaste when some of the pudding landed on his cheek. He tried wiping it away but judging from the way Lance was snickering at him, he hadn’t managed that well.

“Come here, ya big baby.” Lance reached over with a napkin and roughly wiped Keith’s cheek.

Keith slapped his hand away, face now burning with embarrassment. “What the hell,” he grumbled, rubbing his abraded cheek softly.

Lance had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed too as he busied himself with shoving a spoonful of food goo into his mouth determinedly. He immediately made a face, but swallowed.

Keith felt his lip twitch as he tried not to smile at watching Lance’s ever-changing facial expressions. “So, you were saying?”

“Well, it—it’s definitely…interesting,” Lance stumbled, face morphing into a confused grimace when he ate another spoonful. “Can’t say I hate it, though. It’s, uh, unique.”

Keith let curiosity get the best of him and tried some of his too. He couldn’t help making the same look as Lance. It was…savory-sweet, Keith decided. Something earthy offset floral sweetness, but altogether it tasted bland and the lumpy texture tipped the food goo from ‘okay’ to ‘neutral’ territory.

In his hungry state, Lance seemed to decide to face the goo later, so Keith followed suit, and they sated themselves on their sandwiches and boba teas first. But once they’d both finished off their sandwiches, they were once again staring at the food goo.

“It’d hurt Coran’s feelings if we just left it,” Lance said, troubled.

Keith tilted his head, staring at Lance thoughtfully while the boy was distracted with moving the goo around on his plate. He was right. And Keith didn’t _hate_ the food goo, but he certainly had no motivation to eat it either.

Oh. Motivation.

“Scared of a little pudding?” Keith goaded, swirling his spoon of goo near Lance’s face. “Just imagine it’s a food train. Here it cooomes…”

Lance glared at Keith, not taking to being treated like a child, but he chomped down angrily on the spoon nonetheless. Keith paused in surprise, but quickly schooled his features into a smirk and pulled his spoon away.

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Keith teased.

“Delicious,” Lance growled around the mouthful of food goo. He swallowed and said, “I think yours tastes better than mine.” Lance’s hand shot out and he was stealing more of Keith’s food, shoving several spoonfuls into his mouth.

“Hey!” Keith huffed indignantly, trying to steal some of Lance’s, but the other boy predicted it and protected his plate with his other arm. Keith brought out a protective arm around his own plate and when Lance tried to find ways around Keith’s barrier, he pulled his plate away and shoveled the rest of it into his mouth. He put the empty plate back onto the table triumphantly.

Hah, Lance can’t steal what’s already in Keith’s stomach.

But when Keith looked at Lance, victory lighting his eyes, he was met with Lance’s amused expression and quirked eyebrow. “‘Avoided for a reason’ huh?”

Keith glanced down at his cleaned off plate and realized he’d somehow played into Lance’s hands.

“Want mine still, since you ate yours so enthusiastically?” Lance continued with that annoying smirk of his while imitating the way Keith swirled a spoon in Lance’s face before.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Keith locked eyes with Lance as he took Lance’s offered spoonful into his mouth. Some goo was about to drop from the tip of the spoon so he licked that up first before swallowing the spoonful.

Despite the fact that he’d done the same to Keith too, Lance still reacted with surprised and didn’t quite recover as quickly as Keith. A blush crawled up his neck and then painted his whole face right up to the tips of his ears.

Confused as he was by Lance’s reaction, Keith slid his lips off from Lance’s spoon and swallowed. He wiped pudding off the edge of his mouth with his index finger and then licked his off his finger before it dribbled onto his gloves.

Lance made a strangled sound and Keith raised an eyebrow at him but decided to take what he could get and smirked at Lance. He didn’t know how, but he felt that he had won this round somehow.

“Yeah, I guess I do like food goo,” Keith decided with a shrug.

Lance blinked a few times, eyes wide, before he managed to gather himself somewhat, averting his gaze and scoffing, “First you bite my hand, and now you lick my spoon.”

He finished off his plate in a silent daze and Keith sipped at his boba tea leisurely, basking in Lance’s fluster. They fell into a strangely comfortable silence, observing the dark sky past the window and slurping their teas.

“Boys, we’ll be closing soon,” Allura reminded gently, ending their silent reverie. “It’s almost eight, and Keith, your brother is really worried. He even called me.”

Keith cursed under his breath. He had forgotten to text Shiro that he’d be out for a while, and especially because of what day it was today specifically, he was probably freaking out.

Lance startled to his feet when Keith did. Allura took their dishes and left while Keith pulled out his phone and opened it, wincing at the amount of calls and texts Shiro had left him.

“Damn, it’s already eight? We’ve got a ton of homework due tomorrow, too,” Lance groaned when he checked the time on his own phone.

“Not like you start your homework till midnight or something anyway,” Keith commented automatically as he went into his contacts to call Shiro.

His brother answered immediately within the first ring, loudly demanding for his location. Keith winced, pulling his phone away from his ear slightly. Lance snorted in amusement at his side.

“I’m at the Cafe of Lions, relax, Shiro,” Keith sighed when Shiro stopped lecturing him on the importance of letting him know where he is at all times and the dangers of being out late and alone. “I just lost track of time.”

“Okay, I’m just worried about you.” Shiro’s voice sounded worn-out on the other end. “I thought you might have gotten into an accident or—or something bad happened.”

Keith felt a wave a guilt wash over him for the first time. Flashes of the hospital walls came back, but he shook them away. He was never okay on the anniversary of his dad’s death, so Shiro’s worries were not unfounded. The fact that Keith wasn’t back in the afternoon hours ago to hide in his room must have already been extremely worrying in its own right.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said quietly, his voice breaking a little. “I really did just lose track of time. I’ll be back soon.”

Keith put his phone away with a sigh. Lance’s shoulder bumping against his stopped him from falling into any deep thoughts. He turned to look at Lance.

The edge of Lance’s lips quirked up into a half smile and he suddenly announced, “I’m walking you home.” When Keith shot him a startled and confused look, he continued, “After all, I need to annoy you to the best of my ability until the day ends. _And then_ I’ll do my homework!”

Keith huffed a small laugh. “I knew you only ever started at midnight. Isn’t your family worried about you being out so late?”

“Nah, I let them know earlier on that I might be late. They usually think I’m with Hunk or Pidge, so it’s not unusual to them.”

Keith felt his lips lift into an involuntary smile, which he hid behind his hand as he turned around. He also mentally noted Hunk’s name, repeating it into memory.

Once they both said goodbye to the cafe owners, they left. And as promised, Lance annoyed and bickered with Keith the whole walk back to his house. Unconsciously or not, he also walked Keith’s bike for him the whole way, even though Keith could’ve biked home and Lance could’ve gone home much earlier.

But here he was beside Keith, walking his bike for him even though Keith’s hands were unoccupied. It was a small gesture, but like the origami lily Lance left by Keith’s bouquet, it meant so much more. They walked leisurely, as if to extend their time together.

Keith was startled to realize he didn’t want this day to end.

But they inevitably reached Keith’s house, and he took his bike back from Lance. He then realized, “Now you know where I live.”

Lance laughed, but he sounded nervous, yet another strange something Keith mentally tallied for the day, and he definitely looked nervous too as he scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, that wasn’t the goal or anything, though. I’m just following you to annoy you with my presence.”

Lance’s nervousness caused them to lapse into awkward silence. Keith stared at the boy, unsure what to say. Lance’s face was unreadable in the dimming light, but Keith still searched for something to understand in the other boy’s eyes or in the twitch of his lips. It had occurred to him during their walk that Lance had kept him company all day today, probably realizing Keith shouldn’t be alone today.

Not even knowing the situation, Lance had took it upon himself to distract Keith from his own miserable thoughts in the best way he knew how—annoying him. No matter how many times he called Lance an idiot, he had unwillingly interacted enough with Lance to know a lot about him and that included Lance’s unexpected perceptiveness.

Should he express gratitude? But Lance was trying to play this whole thing off as some weird mission _against_ Keith, not for him.

Should he tease him? It would come off stilted and half-hearted though, and Keith couldn’t concentrate on anything except a strange urge to reach out and—do something, but he didn’t dare think _what_ exactly.

It was honestly too late to say anything naturally, they had both been staring at each other for a while now. One of them was eventually going to have to say something and it was going to be awkward no matter what with the extended silence it was following up on.

In the end, neither of them said anything because Keith’s phone rang, startling them both away from each other—When had they gotten so close?—and Keith clumsily answered his phone with a snappish, “Hello?”

It was Shiro, asking where he was once again. Keith sighed and said, “I’m right outside the door. Could you unlock it for me? See you soon.” Keith hung up and turned to Lance who was looking to the side, his hands stuffed back into his jacket pockets. “See you later, Lance.”

Lance seemed to return to himself at Keith’s voice and gave Keith a crooked smile. “Bye, Keith.”

Keith startled a little at the use of his actual name leaving Lance’s mouth normally, no nickname or mockery attached. But if Lance had done it consciously, he didn’t let it show as he turned quickly.

Keith turned to walk up the porch of his house, but before he reached the top step, he glanced back at Lance only to see the other had also looked back. Their eyes met and a second of surprised silence passed before Lance quickly turned back around and continued walking, although moving more stiffly.

Keith continued to watch his retreating figure, face flushing (yet another strange something Keith wouldn’t think about deeply for today), but no one was around to see that, so it didn’t matter right?

He turned around and the blood immediately drained from his face when he saw Shiro’s intimidating figure waiting in the open doorway. How did he open the door without him hearing? Keith thought as Shiro began his long lecture. He wasn’t _that_ distracted, was he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments are encouraging and thank you for reading up to this point!


	3. He tries to throw trash away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit longer, but I hope it's okay! Your comments give me life! Thank you so much! Since I don't write anything regularly (my specialties lie in math and science, which doesn't give much practice in writing ><;) I always worry my stories are boring. It's nice to know they can be enjoyable!

~He tries to throw trash away~

Lance was dozing off for their first class of the day, trusting Hunk and Pidge to wake him up if the teacher looked like they would notice. He had stayed up really late last night getting all his homework done, and he always regretted staying up come morning. It never stopped him from repeating his mistake each day anyway. He was a nocturnal creature, okay! (It didn’t help that he spent most of the night distracted by thoughts of a certain brooding boy.)

That morning he had thought about skipping his morning skin routine for a few more precious minutes of sleep but the thought of being seen with dry, cracked skin was absolutely _unthinkable_.

Lance felt a light ruffle in his hair and reached up to scratch at his head only to hear a crinkle of paper under his hand. Roused by curiosity, he sat up to look at what his hand had closed around. It was a paper airplane, now a bit crooked from where his hand had crushed it.

Lance idly straightened out one of the wings as he examined it curiously. He glanced at Pidge and Hunk, who both matched his questioning gaze then pointedly looked forward. Lance followed their look and locked onto navy eyes. Keith was half-turned in his seat, gazing back at Lance intently. Once their eyes met, a small, amused smile formed on Keith’s lips then he turned back to the front to listen to the lecture.

Now wide awake, Lance blinked owlishly at the back of Keith’s head for a while. His mind had been fuzzy from his nap, but now it felt like mush, after being exposed to an expression from Keith that held no trace of challenge or assholery.

Lance remembered the paper airplane in his hand and noticed a small neat message scrawled on the underside of the plane wing.

_With your level of intellect, I don’t think your grades can afford you sleeping in class._

Scrap that, Keith was an asshole and everything he does is assholery.

A quiet indignant sound escaped Lance’s throat, making Pidge and Hunk crowd over him to look at what he saw on the plane, but Lance was already leaning over it, writing a message underneath Keith’s.

_I’ll have you know I’m passing all my classes!_

Lance reached over his desk and dug the point of the plane past Keith’s thick hair and poked his neck with it. Keith let out a sharp gasp that made Lance freeze and a few classmates look their way. Keith grabbed the paper plane and turned to shoot Lance his usual glare.

Good. Lance mentally sighed in relief at the sight. That was familiar territory.

Lance quickly leaned back, crossing his arms, and pretended not to notice. After a moment the plane drifted into his chest and he caught it, flipping it over to see what Keith wrote back.

Rather than a message, it was a doodle of what was probably him, Hunk, and Pidge. Pidge was tiny with horribly scribbled hair and huge round glasses, and Hunk was a bigger figure next to her with his bandana distinguishing him. And finally, there was Lance’s figure sleeping, head on desk and drooling. An arrow pointed at it and said, “IDIOT”.

Lance huffed out a a breath of a laugh, not even able to be annoyed at the doodle. He flattened the top one wing on the desk and summoned his best anime drawing skills to make a vague depiction of Keith and labelled the drawing “EMO MULLET HEAD”.

He then slid down a bit in his chair, proud when his long legs managed to reach Keith’s chair leg in front. He locked an ankle around the leg and _pulled._ The chair scooted back a tiny bit but sharply enough that Keith let out a startled yelp, and this time even the teacher was distracted from his droning lecture, looking at Keith.

“Something wrong, Mr. Kogane?” the teacher asked, and Keith shrunk a bit, shaking his head.

Murmurs and sniggers passed through the class, the loudest of the sniggers coming from Lance. The teacher made the class settle down before continuing her lecture. Once the teacher was facing her powerpoint again, Keith swiveled around so fast, Lance mused that he might hurt himself. The moment Keith faced him though, Lance threw the airplane his way, and Keith didn’t have much time to glare at Lance, distracted by catching the plane.

When he glanced down and spotted Lance’s drawing, Lance expected Keith to resume glaring at Lance, but he continued to stare down at the wing, featuring the disproportionate, messy-haired, emo mullet head, and _maybe_ Lance added too many sparkles in the eyes, or maybe it was so bad Keith didn’t even understand what he was looking at.

But then Keith reacted in the most unexpected way—he giggled. It wasn’t a derisive snort, or even a huff or amused laughter. He _giggled._

For the second time, something stuck in Lance’s chest, and this time Lance was able to recognize it was his breath. Suddenly the room was too warm.

Keith seemed to feel the temperature change too. His face was flushed red as he covered his mouth, trying to contain any more sound, but it was obvious his amusement wanted to dissolve into something louder and his shoulders shook uncontrollably.

Keith abruptly stood up and excused himself to the bathroom. Lance followed with a half-ass excuse of suddenly feeling sick and followed him out.

The moment they were out in the hall, Keith’s hold on himself came loose completely and he doubled over with laughter. It was full-blown, explosive laughter that had him almost collapsing, holding his stomach, lapsing into wheezes and gasps, and most likely being heard by all nearby classrooms, including the one they’d just left. Lance felt his cheeks flushed as he glanced around his gaze continued to travel back to Keith. He could barely look away.

Keith didn’t seem to have the mind to care how loud he was though. When it seemed like he was finally calming, sucking in shaky breaths, he’d take one look at the crumpled plane in his hand—He didn’t even need to look at the drawing itself—and his laughter would start all over again, tears springing up in his eyes.

Lance tried to frown, arms crossed, but he found himself grinning widely, on the verge of tipping into fits of laughter himself. He had never seen this side of Keith before, and he was willing to bet this was a rarer occasion than the appearance of the super blue blood moon, or maybe more accurately, it was something that happened once in a blue moon—The point is, it just didn’t happen.

From the day Lance met Keith on their first day of high school, the boy already looked like all the world’s tragedies lay on his shoulders alone.

Now, Lance beheld Keith’s mirth-filled eyes and his wide smile and his boisterous laughter.

Something was changing between them ever since yesterday. Keith had never reacted like this to anything Lance did. He never initiated interaction with Lance like he did today other than for the sake of argument or pranks. But then again Lance had never attempted to insult Keith via drawing before either, so maybe Keith would’ve laughed at it the same. Still, Lance got the feeling Keith would’ve only made a mockery of it had this happened a few days prior.

Keith was finally worn out, sitting on the ground against some lockers, only managing some wheezing, and Lance took that as his cue to speak.

“It wasn’t _that_ funny,” Lance huffed defensively, standing over him with his arms still crossed.

Keith took a moment to catch his breath and when he spoke, his words shook with some remaining laughter, “It—It was the way you concentrated so hard on drawing it. You were—taking so long… And the eyes—“ Oh god, he was _giggling_ again. “Are my eyes that sparkly to you?”

Lance felt his already warm face growing hotter. He stomach was already twisting itself into shreds at the sound of Keith giggling. He just couldn’t comprehend anything happening right now with that sound playing on repeat in his head.

Lance looked at the other boy’s eyes, which glinted with amusement.

Keith’s eyes were _objectively_ sparkly! It was just a _fact_. Yesterday evening, Lance had spent quite a lot of time trying to understand _scientifically_ how his eyes had managed to sparkle even in the dim night.

But he couldn’t say any of this to Keith. They sounded like crazy excuses, even within his own mind.

“That’s just my art style. I wouldn’t expect _you_ to understand,” Lance muttered, then added, “After all, you have a mullet.”

That was Keith’s cue to rise to the bait with, “It’s not a mullet!” but instead Keith got up, startling Lance into uncrossing his arms, ready to defend himself but his feet stood frozen in place when Keith came close to him.

He could feel heat radiating off from the other boy’s body and his gaze pinned Lance in place. Keith was like a fire with all that heat and intensity, luring you in with his brightness but all too easy to get swallowed up in.

Lance gulped.

His voice had gone low as he murmured, “Something tells me you like my hair.”

He could fall into those dark eyes, so dark they must be purple—How was that possible? And they stared back at him, unwavering and familiar in the way his gaze was always so fierce, and yet there was something else not unpleasant in those eyes that he didn’t recognize in this moment.

Or maybe they’re just eyes and he was just going crazy!

_Just stop looking at his eyes already, Lance!_ Lance averted his gaze down to Keith’s bowed mouth. _Fuck, that’s worse! Abort! Abort!_

But his traitorous body followed a different will. He stood ever closer to the shorter boy, close enough that their breaths mingled together. He could see Keith’s long, dark lashes fluttering against usually pale cheeks which were now flushed from pink to red, and he decided that that shade of red perfectly suited the fiery boy before him. 

Lance’s hand was reaching up towards Keith’s face.

And then the bell rang.

Lance sprang away from Keith as students poured out of their classrooms. Pidge and Hunk found him quickly since they were the first out of the classroom, and the both of them demanded Lance tell them what had happened and why he and Keith had run out.

Lance glanced to where Keith had been, but the other boy was already lost within the crowd the moment Lance looked away from him.

***

Lance spent the rest of that day feeling confused and not-quite-there after what had transpired in the hallway with Keith. All their classes were notably more quiet without the duo having at it.

Hunk and Pidge even asked Lance if he was plotting some big prank for later or something as they were also disconcerted by the quiet. Lance told them he was just tired, but when they only eyed him suspiciously, he said, “Alright, you caught me! I’ve got a plan underway to get under Keith’s skin!”

Lance made up ridiculous ideas on the spot to tell them. Pidge rolled her eyes but looked amused and Hunk seriously considered Lance’s ideas.

They hung out at Hunk’s house that day and Lance continued to devise this plan he had started on a whim while Hunk and Pidge played video games. Like this, Lance could almost pretend things were normal, but he knew even as he created new ways to irritate Keith, he wouldn’t be able to do it without comparing Keith’s grimaces to his grins and knowing which one he preferred to put on Keith’s face.

***

That morning, Lance felt great. He had taken a refreshing shower and went through his whole morning routine with leisure. And he was definitely _not_ freaking out. He was calm. He was cool. He was a calm, cool, easy-breezy snow cone. He was—

Lance spotted Keith and his heart leapt straight up into his throat.

Fear and excitement and dread and hope (for _what_ exactly, Lance didn’t know) was simultaneously coursing in his veins, until he simply didn’t know what to feel.

He entered the classroom, Pidge and Hunk in tow. Keith’s gaze flickered to him before going back down and remained fixedly down at his hands, which were clenched in tight fists on his desk, as Lance walked past him to take his usual seat behind him.

As he sat, Lance distracted himself with pulling out the needed material for the class and then he was slumping back in his chair, determinedly thinking about things that didn’t include the boy sitting in front of him.

Lance stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and his hand bumped into the stack of post-its he had left in there. He pulled it out, considering it, then looked over at his friends. Pidge and Hunk seemed to be nerding out over some new tech on bionic body parts that Lance couldn’t really understand.

Despite going to the same elementary school, Lance and Hunk had never talked to the girl who was two years their junior, not until she skipped two grades in fourth grade, effectively graduating elementary early, alongside the two of them.

So they didn’t actually talk until middle school. Hunk was the one who made friends with her and it took a year longer before Pidge finally warmed up to Lance enough to stay around whenever he came up to the two of them.

Lance didn’t have anything against his childhood friend for becoming closer to the tech whiz kid, since he could never get as excited about science as the two of them do. Most of the time Lance didn’t mind it since the three still had their own mischievous fun together, but sometimes…sometimes Lance couldn’t help feeling like a third wheel.

Lance turned away from the two and pulled off one sticky note, distracting his thoughts and jittery fingers with the small yellow square. His fingers moved automatically with muscle memory, folding in half, open, repeat the other way, open, meet corners and crease, open, repeat the other way… It was a much smaller and stickier process, but Lance managed to finish curling the petals of a paper lily with his thumb nail just as the teacher came in to start class.

Lance examined his work with a bit of pride. Compared to the one he’d made in a rush at the cemetery for Keith’s dad, this one was neater (thought not by much as Lance was out of practice) and not made from a crumpled prank note thrown at him. In his panic at the time, he hadn’t known the post-it stack was still in his pocket for use (Lance always has a bajillion arbitrary small items stuffed into his jacket pockets, can you blame him for forgetting?).

He put the lily away as the teacher began her lecture, but his hands itched to see how much origami he remembered.

It had been a hobby of his back in elementary and middle school, because his hands always wanted to be doing something and would begin to twitch if he sat doing nothing too long. He fell out of the habit as he grew, though the nervous tics never quite fully left his hands when they were idle.

Lance folded another flower just before his second class, and then another before his third.

In his third class, the teacher, Mr. Clark started off with a short lecture before letting the class go into free study period. Mr. Clark taught psychology and English classes (they were in psychology right now) and he was the students’ favorite teacher known for being the most chill.

The rest of the class were now in quiet conversation or studying for other classes. Pidge and Hunk were looking at something on Pidge’s phone, another tech-y and nerdy thing no doubt.

Lance set to work folding a second lily, this time determined to make it clean and unwrinkled. Unwrinkled was pretty much impossible with the sticky side adhering to places he needed to separate and the small size making some creases hard to make, but the lily still ended up looking better than the first he’d done today.

Lance occasionally poked into Hunk and Pidge’s conversation or other acquaintances’ near him, but for the most part, he was folding sticky notes into any simple origami he could remember.

He kept to origami roses and lilies, since those were the two he remembered most and flowers were what he was most comfortable at doing, having gotten an origami flowers instructions book as a gift from his sister once back in elementary when he first picked up the hobby.

Near the end of the class period, he had a garden of mini yellow flowers. Batches of different kinds of lilies, roses, and other petaled things which were probably other types of roses cluttered his workspace.

Pidge and Hunk and the rest of the class were already packing ten minutes before the bell since they were always eager to buy their lunch before the long line formed in the cafeteria, other simply desperate to get out of class in general.

Sometimes Hunk made his own lunch before school, but he rarely had time, favoring sleep over waking early, and besides, Pidge and Lance would _always_ steal too much of his lunch for it to fill him whenever he made his own. As for Lance, his mom always packed his food so he didn’t rush to put his stuff away.

Now with the end of class approaching, Lance wondered what to do with his pretty mess. He could litter his locker with them, but then that’d be all they are—more trash littering his locker. They felt too small to give to any of his friends; they’d be promptly lost or thrown away probably, and Lance didn’t have the heart to throw all his effort away himself.

The rest of the class was lined up at the door chatting amongst themselves, Pidge and Hunk included. He continued to stare at all the small objects on his desk thoughtfully then glanced up with the goal of checking the time but instead caught sight of Keith, who was still slouching in his chair in front of him. They were the only two left in their seats.

As far as Lance knew, Keith never ate lunch _at all_ (no wonder he’s so small), so the boy in front of him was in no rush to line up at the door.

Even without seeing his face, Lance could tell Keith was sulking about something. Though Keith didn’t have that “it’s the end of the world” aura like on Monday (or like all of freshman year), Lance wondered if Keith was still down about his dad.

Lance made a decision. He slid his backpack onto his shoulders, gathered up his paper garden in his arms and got up, scooting his chair in with his foot. Keith paid no attention, continuing his sulk, until Lance was towering over him at his side. Just before Keith looked up, Lance threw his armful up, showering him in the paper flowers.

Lance caught the attention of a few classmates, and of course Pidge and Hunk, all of whom laughed or watched in amusement as Lance’s new antic for the day played out. Keith, now covered in yellow flowers with many stuck in his hair, sat shocked frozen in his seat. The lily Lance had first folded today fell right into his hands from his shoulder.

It was the most battered-looking compared to the rest of the batch—and of course Keith catches his worst one, Lance thought bitterly—but Keith made no taunting remarks.

He looked up at Lance, expression full of wonder, pale cheeks now dusted pink, eyes bright enough to make stars look dim, and whatever cleverly insulting line Lance had prepared in his mind was caught in his throat right beneath his breath.

The flowers didn’t look like trash on Keith. They decorated his hair and shoulders and lap and Lance had the fleeting thought that he should’ve used red paper.

Lance wasn’t sure how long he gawped at Keith, but he snapped out of it when the bell rang and the sounds of his classmates chatter rushed back into his ears as if he had emerged from water. Lance stumbled his way through his planned response.

“I was, uh, well, this is—paper I was throwing away! Because you’re trash!”

Keith blinked, but Lance didn’t stick around for his response, because Keith covered in flowers, even if they were small yellow paper flowers, was doing things to Lance’s chest, so he decided, _Good enough!_ and jumped desks like they were hurdles in his rush to get out of there. 

***

“That went well,” Lance said brightly once he was seated and had his lunch out.

Pidge snorted loudly.

“Are you talking about the ‘showering Keith with flowers’ thing?” Hunk asked, not seeming to noticed Lance’s glaring blush. “Because if you are, then yeah, I agree.”

“It went better than all your other flirting _combined_ ,” Pidge added. “Although considering your flirting success rate, I guess that’s not much of a comparison.”

Lance spluttered. “My flirting success rate is better than better!” He then belatedly exclaimed even more indignantly, “I was _not_ flirting with _Keith_! You know how, on Monday, he was going to throw his sticky note away, and so he threw it at me? Calling me _trash_ basically!”

“Or like, a trash can,” Hunk said helpfully.

“Yeah—thank you, Hunk—and so I was making a point of doing the same thing to him today!” Lance explained, flailing his arms.

Pidge and Hunk shared a look before bursting into laughter. Hunk was still wiping away amused tears when Pidge said, “I’d be worried if you actually always spend an hour making flowers to throw over your trash can like its a big parade.”

Lance’s face burned with embarrassment. He was honestly just trying to get back onto their usual modus operandi and usually throwing things at Keith did annoy him. He figured it would get them back on track.

In hindsight, throwing _flowers_ wasn’t the most insulting thing Lance has ever done.

“I left Keith to clean up the mess,” Lance muttered weakly.

Hunk said thoughtfully, “I guess that amount of flowers would be annoying to clean up.”

Lance’s already-warm cheeks managed to become warmer at the implication that he didn’t just make a few passing flowers to use as ammo, but that he’d taken the effort to make a _shit ton_ of flowers for Keith, enough that cleaning up the amount could be considered troublesome.

“We better stop teasing him, or he’ll faint.” Pidge remarked. Her voice did sound a bit far away… 

“Relax, Lance. Everyone knows you don’t _like_ Keith,” Hunk said, patting his shoulder.

Lance sighed a little, though he wasn’t sure it was a sigh of relief, and then Hunk continued, “Even when you’re talking about him constantly at school or texting slash calling in the middle of the night about a new mullet joke—which are great by the way, but a man needs his sleep, Lance—or how great Keith’s reaction to your latest prank was, or how annoying he is, or—“

“What Hunk means to say,” Pidge interrupted Hunk who had been making a list on his fingers at this point, “is that we understand annoying Keith is basically your life’s purpose.”

“Hey!”

“And your flirting has always been annoying at best, so flirting with Keith is a sure-fire way to annoying him!” Pidge gave Lance a wide grin.

“I was NOT flirting with Keith!” Lance exclaimed, hands raised in frustration, but a small, hurt voice in his head said, _Is my flirting really only an annoyance? At_ best _?_

“Buuut,” Hunk interjected, “you have to admit that you are pretty obsessed with him. All teasing aside, for reals this time.”

Pidge nodded, and now it was her turn to list off on her fingers, “You always glare at Keith whenever he’s in the vicinity, and Hunk has already explained how he’s almost always the topic of our conversations, no matter the time—a girl needs her sleep too, Lance—“

Lance felt appropriately guilty this time, realizing he couldn’t refute, but in his defense, his late night thoughts are especially loud! It’s part of why he’s a nocturnal creature. And also, it’s not always about Keith… He refuses to acknowledge that he goes to sleep thinking about mullet head! Because he doesn’t.

Pidge was rambling on, and Lance automatically zoned her out out of force of habit when she goes on her intellectual rants. She had clearly done a lot of side observation of Lance and his attitude toward Keith, and while he listened at the beginning, he only got tidbits of his behavioral patterns around Keith by the middle of Pidge’s speech and he immediately zoned her out again, because she was _clearly_ observing all Lance’s actions with complete and utter bias.

He does not sulk when Keith ignores him. It’s a blessing to have that nuisance out of his hair, so there’s no way he would find Keith one-upping him better than being ignored by him. Being ignored is still annoying though, so why isn’t he allowed to sulk, huh? It’s not like Lance starves for Keith’s attention. Pidge was only making it sound that way.

“—Oh!” Pidge exclaimed, and the shift of her tone out of all the droning caught Lance’s attention once again, “And don’t forget how last you that you actually _begged_ me to find out his class schedule for this year just so you could make yours identical to his. You even sacrificed classes you were supposed to share with me and Hunk!” Pidge huffed.

“That is all completely coincidence,” Lance said too quickly, looking away with forced nonchalance. “I was just curious, and then I realized I had a lot more interest in the classes Keith happened to be taking.”

“Coincidence, my ass. It’s not just curiosity to beg and plead on your knees while also agreeing to doing my bidding for a week in exchange for me figuring out Keith’s schedule. You realize I had to ask my brother for that schedule? And then he thought I was finally getting an interest in dating! Dating _Keith_!” Pidge let out a full-body shudder. “And even though I explained I’m whole-heartedly devoted to science and tech, he still doubts me!”

Lance and Hunk couldn’t help being a little amused at Pidge’s woes, but they both gave her comforting pats. She was clearly only interested in science, and knowing Matt, he was likely just teasing his kid sister.

Come to think of it, Lance never did know how exactly Pidge managed to get a hold of Keith’s schedule. He just figured she’d stolen it from Keith last year. How did Matt relate to it?

“Hey, Pidge, how did Matt get Keith’s schedule?” Lance asked.

Pidge paused, looking reluctant to answer.

“Is Matt friends with Keith?” Lance gasped.

“Whoa, no no no,” Pidge said immediately, shaking her head. “He’s friends with Keith’s older brother.”

“Older brother?” Lance and Hunk repeated in surprise.

He remembered Allura mentioning Keith’s brother and then Keith talking to someone called “Shiro” on the phone. The voice on the phone sounded really worried and they seemed really close, so Lance could hazard a guess that this Shiro guy was Keith’s worried brother that Allura mentioned.

But Lance never saw any other relative the whole time they were at the cemetery on Monday. According to the death year inscribed on the grave, it made that day the 6th year anniversary of their dad’s death. So why didn’t Shiro go with Keith to the cemetery? Or at least meet him there?

Lance thought back to the thin line of Keith’s lips, his face twisted in a pained frown. He had looked so lost and alone.

Maybe it was redundant to go again if Shiro had visited his dad earlier in the day while he and Keith were at school, but even so, he should’ve realized as his older brother that Keith needed someone by his side that day, because if Lance hadn’t persistently decided to stick to him like glue, Keith looked ready to just float away.

Lance interrupted Pidge attempts at a new topic of conversation to ask, “What’s he like? Keith’s older brother, I mean.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow at Lance and questioned back, “Why are you asking?”

_Ever since Monday, I keep thinking about the sides of Keith I don’t know and I realize I_ really _want to know more about him._

“Maybe it could be useful for the ultimate plan I’m hatching,” Lance said nonchalantly even as his face warmed a little.

Opposite of what Lance expected, Pidge’s face seemed to shut down at that and she uttered, “I don’t really know Keith’s brother. Sorry.”

Lance frowned, bewildered by the cold reply, but before he could ask, Pidge launched into some technobabble and the air seemed to clear of the split-second tension as if it hadn’t happened.

However Lance didn’t miss the way Pidge acted a little more warily whenever he mentioned Keith’s name for the remainder of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading up to this point!


	4. She didn't understand

~She didn’t understand~

Keith spent that morning in a confused sort of daze. On one hand, yesterday left him high on cloud nine, admiring his new collection of sticky paper flowers, on the other hand, the Garrison trio suddenly didn’t seem much like a trio.

A tense atmosphere followed them after lunch and all through the rest of the day. So this morning consisted of Keith adoring the flowers he brought home to decorate the desk in his room (the other half of the batch decorated his locker, and he kept one flower in particular in his jacket pocket) while also troubled as he wondered what was going on with Lance and his two best friends.

Keith was tracing the spiral of an impressive twisting rose origami when Shiro opened his door and said, “Keith, breakfast—oh, you’re awake.”

Startled, Keith almost lost hold of the rose and scrambled to catch it. Once it was safely still in his hands, he huffed a small sigh of relief and put the rose on his desk before shooting Shiro a look of annoyance, but his brother only stared back with extreme amusement. 

“I know I asked yesterday,“ he began, but Keith stomped past him, determinedly ignoring him, “but who’s the secret admirer?”

Keith felt his face flame red when he remembered the flowers raining down on him and Lance’s bright, triumphant smile. Who’s the secret admirer, indeed, Keith thought wryly. Who knew he was such a sucker for receiving flowers?

Lance also had to be the densest idiot alive not to have noticed Keith was what could only be called _flirting_ with him earlier that day!

Keith felt himself cringing at the memory and was tempted to go back up to his room and curl up in his blanket again.

It wasn’t on purpose—er, he did think about teasing Lance for being jealous of his hair since he mentions it so much, but it definitely wasn’t worded the way he intended because he definitely didn’t mean to sound like—like he _was_ flirting, but did Lance know that? Lance didn’t seem to hate it…or maybe he really is just dense. Keith just sorta went with the flow but…

Oh. What if _he’s_ the reason the Garrison trio are fighting?

Keith froze at the thought.

Pidge doesn’t like Keith, so—no no wait, that’s assuming things too optimistically. Pidge doesn’t like Keith. Lance doesn’t like Keith. Hunk was probably neutral territory. There’s no disagreement to be had in that case.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out the lily. It was a bit more wrinkled than the other small flowers, petals looking a bit worn from trying to fix awkward folds. It looked the most identical to the one Lance made at his dad’s grave. He remembered Lance’s sincere expression that day despite his nonchalant attitude and choice of words as he spoke to the gravestone.

“Keith? Are you okay?” Shiro’s concerned voice broke Keith out of his thoughts. He was already seated at the table with two plates of egg and rice, one plate for Keith no doubt.

Keith realized he’d been staring off dumbly, standing in the middle of the kitchen. He walked over to the small table and sat to eat breakfast with Shiro. His brother smiled at the sight of Keith eating, and Keith had to swallow through guilt that suddenly lodged in his throat.

His appetite had never fully returned to what it used to be back before the accident, but he could now manage to eat a full breakfast and a small dinner without feeling sick anymore.

Keith hated that Shiro still worried over him so much. Even when he was finally awake and recovering from _losing his fucking arm_ , he worried more about Keith than himself.

While Shiro survived without any permanent damage and his parents purchased him the best prosthetic out there to replace the arm he’d lost, he was certain Shiro was still recovering psychologically, always putting up a strong front with Keith— _or_ Keith. But he also knew Shiro frequently visited the Cafe of Lions to talk to Allura and Coran (but mostly Allura, Keith guessed) and he would forever be grateful to the two of them who could provide his brother the support that Keith couldn’t.

Without his notice, their worry for each other brought a sharp divide between himself and Shiro. They closed off their problems from each other and stopped talking about themselves. They rarely talked much at all anymore actually, except for niceties at breakfast and dinner when Shiro asked about Keith’s day and Keith then ask about Shiro’s day and they gave the bare minimum of details. Keith usually said he studied and Shiro usually said _Just college stuff, hanging with Matt—Oh also I visited Cafe of Lions. Allura and Coran say hi._

“Shiro,” Keith said suddenly.

Shiro looked up so fast, he startled Keith, especially with his eyes wide and mouth frozen mid-chew. It would have been amusing, but instead it made Keith’s heart sink.

When had him addressing Shiro first become such a rare thing that it made him react with that much shock to it?

“You remember when you were still recovering in the hospital—“ Both Keith and Shiro winced at the bad start of his sentence, “—and I told you about that one boy who was always annoying me last year?”

“Oh, uhhh, Lance?” Shiro said, head tilted in thought as he scraped up the unpleasant memories they’d spent with him just lying there, eyes barely able to open, unable to move or respond, and Keith sitting there trying to pretend things were normal with a one-sided conversation. Well, it had _felt_ one-sided, like talking to a wall—or a tombstone—but apparently not, seeing as how Shiro remembered Lance’s name.

“You mentioned him pretty much all the time,” Shiro said with amusement at Keith’s shocked reaction. His expression then darkened. “Is he bullying you?”

“No!” Keith exclaimed maybe too forcefully. He then muttered a little sheepishly, “If it counts as bullying then I bully him just as much so…”

“Keith…” Shiro said, face and voice brimming with a dad’s disappointment, and Keith shrunk a little.

“It’s fine. We haven’t gotten into any fist fights this year. Which is a record time now that I think about it…” Keith froze, feeling the full force of Shiro’s disappointment which had managed to amp up even more. He added quickly, “Pidge and Hunk usually intervene.”

“Pidge?” Shiro repeated in surprise. “You’re friends? Matt did say she wanted your schedule last year.”

“No, she—wait what?” Keith stared at Shiro in shock and then it clicked. That’s how Lance got his schedule to match Keith’s this year. “Actually never mind, it’s ’cause, well, she’s friends with Lance. Lance and I are…” Keith trailed off. Lance always said they were rivals, but Keith never quite said it himself. What is Lance to him? _My crush._ Keith shoved the thought aside in a rush. “He’s my self-proclaimed rival. I just sorta…respond.”

Shiro was now smiling a little in amusement. “You mentioned that rival stuff before. Do you see him as a rival?”

“No. I mean, yes? No,” Keith shook his head decidedly. “He’s just really stupid, I can’t see him as a rival. I threw trash at him once and sorta called him trash—“ Once again Shiro was giving him that pointed dad look again. Even though he’s been out of practice, he’s still got it down, wow, “—and then I _think_ he tried to do the same to me but he threw a bunch of origami flowers at me instead of trash and I saw how he’d spent the whole class period folding them, so it obviously didn’t have the same effect.”

Shiro’s eyebrows flew up in surprise and then a slow grin formed as understanding lit his face. Keith realized his mistake only after the rant was done with and groaned internally.

“Ohhh, so _Lance_ is the one who gave you all those flowers. I see they definitely had _some_ effect.”

“No, I mean, I was explaining that he’s an idiot,” Keith huffed, cheeks warming. “He also made this stupid drawing of me—“

“He made a drawing of you,” Shiro repeated in interest.

Keith sighed in exasperation, discarding the idea of finding the paper plane somewhere in his room to show his brother. “I started this conversation with the aim of complaining, but you’re twisting it into something else.”

“Oh, yes, I’m the one twisting it into something else,” Shiro snorted, eyes glinting in amusement. Keith hadn’t seen Shiro’s open smile in so long, only ever being exposed to his brother’s strained smiles or sad smiles of relief, and so he ended up not feeling as annoyed as he should.

Keith just sighed and continued ranting about all the various pranks Lance and he and done to each other. He was always reminded of yet another funny story in the middle of another story and talked about their antics in a huge, confusing tangle in which he kept cutting himself off to mention this other thing Lance did only to be reminded of yet another thing he should’ve mentioned first, and so on. Shiro listened to it all, all the things Keith would’ve told him earlier and with less confusion had he not unconsciously erected a barrier between himself and his brother.

Keith was mid-sentence when he checked the time and saw he was going to be late for school if he didn't leave right this minute. He swore—and then hastily apologizing to Shiro for swearing—but before Keith could get up, Shiro stopped him and said, “Whoa, slow down, Keith. I can drop you off to school today, so just finish your food first.”

Keith gave him a grateful smile and sat back down to finish his food, feeling lighter than ever before.

His mood didn’t stay that way though. He had hoped the Garrison trio had managed to work out whatever issues they were having yesterday after school, or at least be better after having a night to cool off, but if anything, there was even _more_ tension between the three today.

The trio entered the classroom together, but Lance was hovering close behind Pidge, eyeing her intensely, while the latter obstinately ignored his gaze, and Hunk—poor guy, Keith couldn’t help thinking—wandered nervously nearby.

Lance briefly looked up after entering the classroom, meeting Keith’s gaze before he was back to staring at Pidge.

As they passed to sit in their seats behind Keith, Pidge’s eyes darted up, meeting Keith’s for a nano-second. Keith raised an eyebrow, turning in his chair to continue watching them. He ended up catching Hunk’s eye, and the other boy shrugged, looking just as confused as him.

***

“What are you not saying, Pidge?” Lance demanded with narrowed eyes once it was lunch time and Pidge still hadn’t cracked. Lance’s eyes were getting dry from all the hardcore staring he was doing. He should get a medal for his efforts.

“I _told_ you already!” Pidge groaned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about!” Lance exclaimed, waving his arms and almost whacking Hunk.

“You’re imagining things!” Pidge huffed.

Her eyes seemed to catch onto something and Lance quickly followed her gaze, spotting Keith. Keith also caught sight of them, looking on curiously for a second before turning and heading the opposite way from the cafeteria.

The fact that Keith didn’t glare at Lance had something lighting up in his chest, but he ignored it for now in favor of figuring out what was up with Pidge. It was obviously about Keith’s older brother.

Lance looked back at Pidge, but she now had her head turned the other way, looking even more petulant with her pursed lips and hiked up shoulders.

If that’s the case… “Hey, mullet!” Lance called.

Keith’s retreating figure turned to Lance, expression full of surprise, and Pidge was suddenly gripping his arm.

“What’s your bro—ACK!”

Before Lance could continue his question, Pidge was dragging him over to the cafeteria with surprising speed. Hunk followed suit.

“So what’s Keith’s older bro like?” Lance asked once they had food and were seated at their usual table.

Pidge glared at Lance and said, “Nothing like Keith, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Lance thought back to the scolding he’d heard over the phone. All he knew as that Shiro was a worried older brother. Keith didn’t strike him as the worrying type, so this info didn’t faze him.

“Okay…” Lance said slowly, prompting for more in his tone.

Pidge pursed her lips and turned away. She eventually started speaking when Lance continued to stare at her. “Well, we’re friends. He’s super nice and lets me climb onto his shoulders. I don’t do that _anymore—_ of course—or actually, I mean to say—okay, just think of the most perfect guy you know and times that by ten. There you go.”

Lance got the feeling she was stumbling around her explanation and being vague on purpose, but he couldn’t understand why.

“When I think of the most perfect guy times ten, I think of myself,” Lance joked.

Pidge only glared at him while Hunk laughed nervously.

“Look, you wanted to know what he’s like and I gave you an answer. Now can you leave it alone?” Pidge grouched.

It dawned on Lance then that Pidge was being defensive about Shiro.

He did have a bit of a bad taste in his mouth when he thought of Keith alone on Monday, but that could hardly be all Shiro’s fault if Keith had told him he wanted to be alone, and Keith would definitely do that. Plus Pidge didn’t know anything about that—she didn’t know even Lance knew Shiro’s name already. All in all, Lance had no reason to have any bad feelings towards Shiro so he didn’t understand Pidge’s caution.

Lance frowned at Pidge, getting up from his seat. Hunk caught onto Lance change of mood and jumped into action immediately.

“Okay, okay.” Hunk waved his hands anxiously from where he sat between them acting as a physical barrier. “How about we all calm down and talk this out in a friendly—“

“I’m sorry, Hunk, but the fact that Pidge seems to be holding possibly _vital_ information about my rival leaves me little reason to be calm!”

That was Lance’s excuse anyway, but it seemed to tick Pidge off.

“That’s exactly why I kept it from you!” Pidge shouted, jumping up from her seat.

It was a rare burst of anger that effectively silenced both Lance and Hunk. Pidge was often irritated or sarcastic, but rarely did she shout in anger. And just now her volume had risen enough that students at nearby tables glanced their way, but they were soon forgotten once again in the clamor of lunch time.

“Shiro is like family to me. He and Matt have always been friends so he’s been around since I was little. And I didn’t want you getting him involved in your little feud with Keith. I would never forgive you,” Pidge growled. Her eyes met Lance with a ferocity he had never seen in her before.

Lance frowned. It still wasn’t adding up. “How would I even involve Shiro? Y’know, unless _he_ confronts me, I wouldn’t really have a reason to get involved with him myself.”

Pidge now shifted uncomfortably.

Lance kept on staring at Pidge, confused and a little hurt by the secrecy. Hunk, after a few seconds of tense silence, said, “I gotta say, while it’s not cool to keep a big secret from your two best friends, well, everyone has things they want to keep private.”

At Hunk’s words, Lance let go of the hurt, realizing he really was being unreasonable, demanding answers that might not have to do with him and were in fact private. But then Lance remembered Pidge’s words about not wanting Lance to get Shiro involved and he couldn’t quite let go of the fact Pidge didn’t trust Lance about something.

Pidge ignored him for the rest of the day, even when Lance attempted to talk to her about whatever bionic arm upgrade she had been going on about. Eventually, he gave up and ignored Pidge right back, making passive aggressive remarks addressed indirectly at her. Still, she stubbornly only responded to Hunk, who gave Lance apologetic looks in her place which was a tremendous comfort to Lance.

He felt a twinge of guilt towards Hunk for having to deal with his two best friends fighting, but then he’d catch sight of Pidge’s defiant expression looking back at Lance as if _he_ was the bad guy and—he’d make it up to Hunk later.

***

The moment they entered and closed the door of Pidge’s room, she whirled around and said angrily, “Alright, I’ll give you the truth, Lance. And Hunk. But you have to _promise_ you won’t go blabbing about it to the whole school.”

Lance felt something sharp dig into his chest at her biting words. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. It was enough for Pidge. She sat on her bed and Lance and Hunk sat on the floor.

“When describing Shiro, I’d say he’s really a kind and patient guy. I was also serious about the whole ‘perfect person times ten’. He used to let me climb onto his shoulders, and he would just let me sit there and be on my phone like it was a normal seat for me, and he could walk around easily with me just on his shoulders, so I always just climbed up there—that is, until the car accident he got into last year that caused him to lose his arm.” Pidge’s face crumpled into a pained expression that made Lance’s heart squeeze tight in his chest.

“He was in critical condition for a long time,” she went on with some difficulty. “We all thought he wasn’t going to make it. I was devastated, Matt was devastated, but Keith most of all barely kept himself together. Even when Shiro’s condition stabilized, he did lose his arm and get a nasty scar on his face, and Keith still seemed convinced Shiro would die somehow. Or that maybe it was his fault? Anyways—”

_Last year._ Something clicked in his mind as Lance remembered Keith’s attitude when he first met him in freshmen year.

“—as far as I know, Shiro is the closest person to Keith, but even to Shiro, Keith rarely opened up, and of course he withdrew farther after Shiro’s accident. They’re not actually blood-related, you know.”

Lance’s eyes went wide at that.

“Keith was adopted by the Shiroganes, but he kept his own last name. Matt and I tried to befriend him, but he was closed off from everyone. I don’t know how Shiro dealt with him,” Pidge said this with a bitter expression.

She had more beef with the brooding boy than Lance realized. She must have also wanted to be friends with Keith, but failed, just like Lance. It occurred to him that—yeah, with that expression, she still regrets not being able to befriend him.

“So now you know.” There was a note of finality in Pidge’s voice, but also a slight edge.

Lance frowned. He could see why Pidge wouldn't want to share, but he still didn’t understand why she didn’t want _Lance_  to know. He recalled the way she’d blown up. She didn’t want him to involve Shiro in his feud with Keith… Shiro, the only other person Keith cares about.

“You thought I’d use this information about Shiro to get at Keith in my dumb plan?!” Lance exclaimed, shooting to his feet. “Not only that—you thought I’d _spread this around the whole school_? Just to annoy Keith?”

Pidge flinched a little at the volume of Lance’s voice, but her parents were busy working, and Matt was still in class at the college he and Shiro attended, so Lance saw no need to keep his voice down.

“Well, wouldn’t you? It’s the perfect ammo,” Pidge huffed.

“Pidge, that’s not…“ Hunk’s voice was lost behind the buzzing in Lance’s ears.

“I wouldn’t! Why would I even—I can’t believe you!” Lance exclaimed, jumping up and pacing the room, ruffling his hands through his hair.

“You can’t blame me! You’re always on about how to get at Keith every day, so of course I would—“

“I’m just trying to get his attention!” Lance paused for only a brief moment at the accidental admission. “I-I mean, I just find him frustrating when he’s brooding away and ignoring everyone, and okay, I can be insensitive sometimes—or a few jokes go a bit too far like the fake juice prank…” Lance shook himself out of his ramble and growled at Pidge, “but I’ve never tried to pick at anyone’s _emotional scars,_ what the _fuck_ , Pidge!”

“L-Lance…” Hunk said cautiously.

Lance turned towards the Hunk so fast, something in his tense-lined body popped, but he was alight with too much anger and hurt to feel the stiff joint. Despite his bigger stature, Hunk shrunk away from the skinny boy.

“You can’t seriously be siding with Pidge!” Lance all but yelled.

“I’m not siding with anyone…“

Hunk’s soft voice fell on deaf ears. Lance turned back to Pidge, who stood on her bed glaring back at him with all the defiance and ferocity Lance was unfamiliar with. So he really didn’t know Pidge at all.

Just like he didn’t know Keith in freshmen year, Lance realized with a jolt.

He didn’t know Keith’s circumstances, what he must have been going through when he abruptly rejected Lance’s hand. Lance just blamed him and annoyed him and argued with him. For all that they’ve interacted, Lance _still_ doesn’t know Keith.

Suddenly, Lance felt all the energy drain out of him.

“You didn’t have to tell me everything—or anything at all,” Lance muttered and hated the way his voice cracked pathetically. “I just can’t believe you didn’t _trust_ me.”

Pidge visibly deflated, stepping off her bed and saying something, but Lance didn’t have the energy for any of this.

He turned and left without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't handle angst so it'll generally stay on the down low, I think. Also not much Klance interaction this chapter but no worries, there's more to come! As always thank you for reading this far! <3


	5. He wants to help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh Voltron season 7 is coming out and I'm SO HYPED! Anyways, life is getting in the way so crossing my fingers hoping I'll be able to watch it soon after it comes out ><;;

~He wants to help~

Keith was on his phone and glanced up when he heard the door open, not expecting it to be anyone important to him—except it was.

Lance had come to class unusually early, and he looked terrible.

Usually his face glowed even on the most tiring of mornings, even when he’d doze off during class, and Keith often wondered on the secrets that made Lance look like a morning person even when he didn’t act like one.

But this morning, his olive skin was a little more ashen, bags were evident under his eyes, and even his thin, short hair, managed to look more ruffled up.

Keith would say he looked like he just rolled out of bed, threw clothes on and went to school like that, but Keith did that pretty much every morning (although of course lately, he’s eating breakfast again), so he couldn’t really insult Lance that way without being a hypocrite.

Oh, does he always look ragged to others? To Lance? Lance does always make fun of his hair…

Keith self-consciously dragged his fingers through the tangled mess covering his head as Lance approached, but then he passed without so much as a glance or a word. Something small and sharp pricked Keith inside his chest, a pain like a needle shot, where more pain was delivered in contrast to the size of the weapon, and Lance’s big words to annoy Keith were nothing against the silence of his words.

Lance had ignored him.

It was something he did sometimes. Where in certain classes or on certain days, he just didn’t feel like raising hackles with Keith, but he _never_ failed to look at Keith every single time he entered a classroom. Because Keith was always a few minutes before the bell and Lance was always a few seconds, and their eyes always met from where Lance entered and where Keith sat.

He hadn’t realized Lance had conditioned his response to look up when hearing the classroom door opening and expect to meet soft brown hair, blue eyes, and a confident frame not until it was taken away from him and replaced with ruffled hair, ashen skin, and slumped spine, shuffling past him.

He didn’t even stop at his usual seat behind Keith. He skulked into the back corner seat, burying his face into his arms. Keith felt frozen in his seat, uncertain what to do. He rarely interacted with people, he definitely had no idea how he should go about comforting the obviously upset boy.

Keith had never seen him so downtrodden, he could almost convince himself he was only looking at someone who simply _looked_ like Lance. Whenever Keith was upset, he holed himself in his room or isolated himself and glared at anyone who dared come near. But Lance didn’t seem like the sort of person who felt better after time alone. Hell, Keith never did either, it was just what he did, what he was comfortable with. Lance though, he was someone always surrounded by people (or at least Pidge and Hunk), always talking, always doing something. He wouldn’t feel better holing up or isolating himself doing nothing in a corner.

He was half-turned in his seat, obviously eyeing Lance, and trying to work up the nerve to go over to the suddenly very terrifying corner when Pidge and Hunk walked by, obstructing his view for a second. When he looked up at the two, they both looked back with strangely subdued expressions. Hunk glanced over at Lance with a look that Keith was all too familiar with from Shiro, while Pidge kept her head down and her face was covered by her bangs as they took their seats behind him.

Keith turned his chair a little so he could twist around to face them and leaned over their desks, whispering, “Did something happen to Lance yesterday?”

He was aiming for something more casually curious, but his voice came out worried instead. Keith didn’t dwell on it, since he didn’t feel the need to put up a rivalry act with Lance’s friends. He’d never really interacted with them before, even if he’d sort of known Pidge a long time.

Hunk reacted strongly to his question, whipping his head from Lance to Keith and shooting him with wide, imploring eyes.

Pidge rested her chin on the desk then tilted her head to let her cheek rest against the wood. She fixed a sidelong glance at Keith, considering him, then she sighed and murmured, “We got into a fight yesterday, and now he won’t respond to our texts or calls no matter how much we apologize and ask to talk.”

Hunk buried his face in his hands, likely trying to stop the tears from his already watery eyes.

As for Pidge, guilt crossed her face and then resignation. “It’s all my fault. I was being stupid, pretending I knew everything, but I really don’t. I can’t analyze humans the way data can be analyzed. I’m so—“

“Enough of that,” Keith interrupted, maybe too sharply because Hunk flinched, but at least he was looking up now instead of hiding his face miserably. “What in the world could you have argued about that made Lance like _that_?” He gesture vaguely in Lance’s dark corner. “The two of us argue all the time about pretty much everything!”

Once again, Hunk was fixing him with imploring eyes, wide and doe-eyed. He had no idea Hunk’s eyes could do that, or _why_ he was doing it, but it was working.

The bell rang before either of them could respond so Keith quickly said, “We’re talking after class.”

Hunk nodded aggressively and Pidge glared down at her hands.

Class took forever to end, but once the bell finally rung, Keith turned to look at Hunk and Pidge, but he gaze stopped on Lance, who still had his head in his arms in the same position he had been at the beginning of class. Lance could never stay still that long.

“He fell asleep,” Keith remarked.

He didn’t stay to listen to whatever Pidge and Hunk said in response as he made his way over to Lance. He could see his back rising and falling in a slow rhythm. He even seemed tired in sleep, not moving at all.

Keith always figured Lance was someone who moved around a lot even in his sleep. He had ever actually seen or imagined Lance sleeping, but it was something he figured just seemed so _Lance_ without ever giving it any conscious thought.

Keith grabbed Lance’s shoulder and shook him. “Lance, class ended, wake up.”

Lance woke with a start, which shook Keith’s hand from his shoulder in the process. He looked up at Keith bewildered. “Keith! Er—hey, mullet.”

He stood up, wobbled a little from the abrupt movement, then ran his fingers in his hair in an attempt to straighten it out, but the effort only served to make more hair stick out more at the ends.

Keith’s lips twitched into an unintentional smile, small and amused at Lance’s haggard appearance. Lance was certainly conscious of it, catching Keith’s expression and brushing his hand through his hair a second time, but to no avail this time either. Lance scowled down at his hand as if it was at fault.

“I was just—trying out the emo style you’ve got going on,” Lance finally said, waving the offending hand in the air nonchalantly.

“You look like shit. Did you not get any sleep last night?” Keith asked, stepping closer to examine his face.

Lance waved him away, laughing, but it sounded strained. “You know how I am! Always starting my homework at midnight, as you said. There was a lot, and my dumb ass took way too long understanding any of it.”

Keith frowned. “You’re not dumb.”

Lance’s eyes widened slightly, taken aback by Keith’s immediate response.

“That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Lance joked, but his expression fell from it’s tenuous nonchalance as his gaze wandered behind Keith, likely catching onto Hunk and Pidge. “I gotta go.” Lance said suddenly. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice breaking, as he passed.

Keith was startled by just how earnestly Lance apologized, as if he were apologizing for way more than just suddenly leaving.

Once he was gone, Keith gave Hunk and Pidge a bewildered look, but they just looked elsewhere. He gestured for the two to follow him. He had several spots in the school he’d secured as his ‘loner spots’ so he could spend lunch time in peace, although sometimes the trio found him and Lance annoyed him relentlessly those days.

He found one now under the stairs and turned to Hunk and Pidge with a questioning eyebrow raised. Pidge was frowning still, arms crossed and looking smaller than ever.

Keith was eyeing Pidge when Hunk burst out next to her, speaking fast, “Pidge has trust issues and Lance learned she was keeping a secret from us about your brother-in-a-hospital situation and that you’re adopted but it was because she thought he would definitely taunt you about it or spread it around the school—which I assure you, he would _never_ —and Lance got so mad at us, but then he got really sad and then he left and now he’s been ignoring us ever since, and Pidge has been feeling sooo guilty but Lance texted me yesterday that he didn’t want to talk to either of us for a while, so we can’t do anything!”

“What?” Keith looked at Hunk then Pidge again. “Why would you think—“

“Hunk was just trying to calm the situation though, so it’s unfair that Lance ignore him too!” Pidge huffed. “I admit to my mistakes. I shouldn’t have discredited Lance in my mind so much. I really do feel bad about that. But I’m not all to blame here! Why should I say sorry just because I happen to care about and want to protect people I consider family? And if it’s not clear to you, Keith, I consider Shiro family.”

“Oh, yeah, I got that,” Keith said impatiently, crossing his arms. “I also think Lance would understand too. And besides, I wasn’t keeping my whole—backstory or whatever—a secret. I would’ve already punched him all the way out back to his hometown if he was really the type of person who’d do that.”

“Whoa, are you like, defending Lance?” Hunk asked. “Because I am for it all the way, but it’s just weird.”

“Yeah, I guess it is, but it’s also weird that I’ve known Lance for a shorter time and I’m the one explaining this. Also, Lance already sorta knew who Shiro was anyway.”

It was Pidge’s turn to gape.

Keith continued, looking pointedly at Pidge, “I guess he didn’t know the _whole_ situation, but I figure he was just being respectful of my business by not asking all about my personal life. He doesn’t need to know that stuff to achieve his goal of annoying the hell out of me.”

Pidge began to glare at the ground again. She seemed crossed between indignation and guilt, unable to decide on one.

“You’re sorta rubbing salt in the wound there, man,” Hunk said uneasily.

“The one with the bigger wound is in a bad state and alone right now,” Keith practically growled, but Hunk’s wide, watery eyes brought Keith’s temper back down.

Still, he didn’t feel like apologizing. The shock of seeing an upset Lance was finally ebbing and giving way to angry thrumming in his ears and under his skin. He had the urge to punch something, or throw a chair, but that wouldn’t really help anything right now—or so he kept having to remind himself.

“So can you?”

Keith realized he was had missed whatever Hunk was saying and had been mirroring Pidge, glaring at the ground, arms crossed, not defensively but more out of habit. He uncrossed them and looked up at Hunk who now had his hands clasped together tightly, pleading for something. “Huh?”

“Can you be with Lance in our place?” Hunk asked again, wringing his hands. “He’s not ignoring you, and like you said, he’s on his own right now and I know he has a tendency to start overthinking things when he’s alone with his thoughts and I don't want him to start thinking we don’t care about him and—and I might go bald from all this stress!” Hunk’s hands flew to his head, and he really did look strung out.

Keith realized Pidge was in the same strung out state, plagued by both guilt and worry. She was smaller than anyone else in the school, and Keith remembered she was still just 13 years old. Book smarts and logic could only bring you so far with emotional maturity, although for a 13-year-old she was much more mature than Keith. Anyways, as emotionally stunted as he was, Keith could still see Lance’s friends really did care about him.

“Yeah. I planned to talk to him even without being told,” Keith said. The buzzing in his ears was now gone and his temper alleviated. He hesitantly put a hand on Pidge’s small shoulder. It was barely a touch but it got her to look up as Keith said, “Just give him time.”

Pidge blinked then suddenly her arms were around him in an embrace. Keith froze up, but the hug was over before he even registered it and she ran past him. Hunk wiped his eyes, giving Keith a big smile before he followed after her.

***

Talking to Lance was easier said than done though.

The back corner of his classrooms became dark and terrifying in Keith’s eyes as Lance continued to sit in the very back corner in each class they had together. He was certain many of his teachers were marking him absent because they wouldn’t see him where he usually was—either next to Hunk and Pidge or behind Keith.

By the time the bell rang signaling they could go home, Keith was as frustrated as Lance was gloomy. Hunk and Pidge weren’t in their last class (not that they’d be able to help if they were) so Keith was on his own. He kept glancing back at Lance who sluggishly packed his things. Keith already had everything in his side bag and nothing else was stopping him except his own awkwardness and fear.

_Just go over there. Just move your feet. One in front of the other._ But Keith stayed rooted where he was, playing with his bag strap. _Come on, since when have you taken the time to actually think things through?_

_Since this is Lance and I care._ Keith answered his own thoughts spitefully.

Lance was passing by him. He was losing his chance. On impulse, he grabbed Lance’s arm, stopping him from leaving. Lance looked at him in surprise. Keith felt like he’d puke his heart out if it beat any stronger.

He had to say something quickly, something to stop Lance from brushing him off and walking away, because Keith wouldn’t be able to take anymore of Lance’s dejection and if he fails to say something now he won’t get another chance today and he’ll have to wait until Monday—AGH SAY SOMETHING, KEITH.

“Go out with me,” Keith blurted.

Lance’s eyes widened to comical levels, reminding Keith of an owl, as his mouth fell agape. Keith’s face burned with a ferocity that could compete with the sun as he stumbled over his own words to fix his phrasing.

“To the—to the, um, Cafe of Lions, I mean. Go out with me to the Cafe of Lions. Hang out at the Cafe of Lions. As f—rivals.”

Keith cringed at himself, but then Lance was laughing and Keith’s heart was now bruising against his ribs for a whole new reason.

“Cafe of Lions, got it,” Lance said, smiling— _smiling_ at Keith, and was he imagining that light flush of color on Lance’s cheeks? “Yeah, sure. Let’s go out, mullet.”

The world around him went hazy except for the boy standing before him as his words swirled around on repeat in Keith’s mind. _Let’s go out… Let’s go out… Let’s go out…_ Keith gave a short nod and managed to follow after Lance despite not feeling the ground beneath him.

The walk brought Keith back to that Monday where things changed between them.

Just a few days ago thoughts of Lance only brought to mind pranks and fights and annoyance. Keith may have gotten to know Lance well, understanding his personality behind all their bickering, but he never really got to _know_ Lance. He didn’t think about him past ‘that annoying guy who thinks he’s sooo funny’, not until Lance exposed an underlayer himself, and the rest made itself clear in between the lines of all their fights. 

Keith may not know a lot about Lance’s personal life really, other than that he’s from Cuba (Lance had learned that Keith couldn’t swim and began bragging about how he was an amazing swimmer and then somehow started going on about the beaches where he used to live), but he knew the sound of Lance’s boisterous laughter, his snickers and chuckles, his loud sinister cackles, and he knew the way Lance smiles wide and bright, or that smirking face he makes just before he’s about to say something he _thinks_ is clever, the way he speaks with his whole body, animated in every way, filled with so much contagious happy energy that his skinny frame can barely contain it, and Keith has had experience with Lance’s perceptiveness, how he can always tell Keith’s mood and acts accordingly, knowing which days he really should leave Keith alone, or keep annoying—or simply keep him company.

And there was so much more Keith wanted to know about the boy next to him.

He glanced down and noticed the backs of their hands were close to touching. If he just moved his hand slightly, their hands would brush. Keith held back the temptation, pulling his gaze away from the space between them. He was still aware of Lance’s presence beside him, and even though he was walking to a familiar place, it felt like he was treading into unfamiliar territory.

Keith allowed himself a brief moment to imagine it really _was_ a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading! :D


	6. They are petty

~They are petty~

Allura came out from the kitchen, having heard the door chime, and greeted them, “Good afternoon, Keith. And you brought your friend again! Lance, was it?”

Lance gave an affirmative nod and grinned. “At your service, princess.”

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance’s flirting, but a tiny piece of his heart stung too, though he refused to acknowledge it. Lance was always easily distracted by any cute girl within the vicinity and pines after them like a lovesick puppy all the time. It was a relief to see some normality from Lance again, even though Keith wasn’t too happy with it.

Whatever. It’s not like Keith liked him.

“I believe _I’m_ the one serving the customers here,” Allura quipped, but she was smiling as she gestured to the board behind her.

Keith kicked Lance’s leg as a way of moving him aside (but also because he was feeling just a little bitter at the boy) and said, “Food goo for both of us.”

Allura brightened at that and said happily, “Oh, I’m so glad you liked Coran’s specialty, Keith! You really had no reason to avoid it, after all, hm?”

Keith stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, I ended up liking it.” _It’s tied to good memories._ Keith thought to himself in embarrassment and pointedly did not look at Lance in hopes of hiding his faint blush.

“Anything else?” Allura asked as she wrote.

Keith saw Lance move to speak and kicked him again—“Hey!”—and pointed at the display of sweets. “Those last two scones, the raspberry and blueberry. And Thai tea for both of us.” Keith glanced at Lance’s skinny frame and added, “And a chicken sandwich.”

After paying, Keith kicked Lance, who was staring at him in confusion, once again to get him to move.

Lance yelped, jumping and holding his shin. “Ow! Why do you keep kicking me?” He asked with both irritation and bewilderment. He followed Keith to one of the tables against the window. “I can’t tell if you’re in an extremely good mood or extremely bad mood right now!”

Keith smirked and kicked him again from under the table for good measure once they were seated. The bitterness in his chest was effectively gone as he annoyed the boy. Lance glared at him and tried to kick back. They continued their leg battle for a minute or two, but Keith had trouble against other boy’s long legs. He kept trying to lock his ankles around Keith’s to put a stop to his movement and often managed to stop one foot, and Keith squirmed relentlessly, until he lost hold and the battle resumed.

Someone clearing their throat ended their feud and they looked up to see Allura’s dignified figure standing over them. “Sorry to interrupt your little, um, footsies game,” she said, trying to frown but her face was filled with amusement, “but I have your scones warmed up, and I’ll be back with rest of your orders soon.”

She placed the plate on the table and left. Once she was gone, Keith and Lance looked back at each other and Keith took the opportunity to give Lance one last kick.

Lance jerked his leg away and pouted at Keith’s smug expression, slouching in his chair and crossing his arms as he mumbled, “You’re a terrible date.”

Keith’s smug look was wiped right off his face, replaced with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. _Did he just call this a—?_

Lance glanced up again, and seeing Keith’s dumbstruck face, he snickered, “Just a piece of advice, mullet, if you ever score an actual date, don’t kick them. It doesn’t leave a very good impression.”

_Oh_. The words were a splash of cold water. Lance was just making fun of him. He recovered from his initial surprise and rolled his eyes. “It’s ironic that you’re giving me advice, seeing as how you never score any dates.”

“I do too! And I don’t see you doing any better! Besides, do you not see Allura falling hard for all this?” Lance gestured to himself.

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Keith snorted as he broke the two scones in half, giving them half of both. “You know she’s only humoring you, right?”

Lance’s lips pursed and he shot dagger eyes at Keith, who jerked in surprise when he felt a sharp kick to his shin. Keith kicked back, but before their foot fight could begin anew, Allura returned with their orders, placing their respective plates of food goo down and then the chicken sandwich, which Keith slid over to Lance. She told them to enjoy and left quickly to clean off the tables of some leaving customers.

Keith had the sense to feel bad, seeing some people had probably left the cafe earlier than intended because of the ruckus he and Lance were causing. Lance, however, took no notice, his eyes boggling at the Thai tea.

“You’ve never had Thai tea before?” Keith asked.

“I haven’t,” Lance affirmed, still staring. “Pidge likes it but it’s just... _so_ orange.” He didn’t even seem to realize he’d mentioned the person he was actively ignoring all day.

“Now look who’s being shallow,” Keith said, biting back a laugh at Lance’s dumbstruck expression.

Lance burst into laughter in his place. “C’mon, it’s just—holy crow, it’s so unattractive! Not the Thai tea, but all of this! Green and orange, ugh! I can’t believe I’m going to consume these!”

Keith looked down at the orders and huffed a laugh. It really was horrendous clash of color. He looked up at Lance, eyes glinting with amusement as he commented, “It’s like your jacket.”

Lance’s eyes widened just a bit and he quickly peered down at his signature jacket, its earthy green and orange stripe on each sleeve.

“Ohh, that’s low. You did _not_ just insult my favorite jacket,” Lance growled, but the smile he was trying to hold back made the threat sound playful. “You’re the one with the mullet and always wearing that red crop jacket! You look like some 80s Nascar racer!”

“I do not,” Keith huffed, crossing his arms.

“Do too!”

“You sound like a child.”

“ _You_ sound like a child!”

“Do you not hear yourself?”

Lance simply stuck out his tongue at him. Keith scoffed, dropping the argument so he could eat. Lance seemed to take it as a win, grinning hard at Keith. They fell into a comfortable silence as they ate.

After finishing his plate of food goo Lance laughed, catching Keith’s attention. He looked up at Keith and said, “I gotta to say, this stuff is growing on me.”

Keith agreed and didn’t realize his mouth had formed a small smile until Lance returned the look, his tired eyes bright again, and then Keith’s eyes travelled down to Lance’s lips, watching his usual broad smile shy into something softer. Keith turned away abruptly, bringing his straw to his lips as an excuse for his sudden movement.

“How do you like Thai tea?” Keith asked once he calmed down.

Lance made a show of taking a long slurp of his tea, letting out a loud, content exhale afterwards. “I can see why Pidge likes it so much.”

At the second unintended mention of her name, Lance’s good mood abruptly became subdued like a blanket tossed over a light bulb. He had been distracted last time he mentioned her, but this time, it was evident Lance was reminded of their falling out.

“Lance, um…“ Keith had no idea what to say. Almost every other word out of his mouth only ever egged Lance on for a fight, but Keith’s ability to rile Lance up wasn’t exactly useful in the current situation. But before the panic began to set in, Lance was talking again.

“Are you gonna eat that?” Lance had asked, pointing at Keith’s half of the blueberry scone, his moment of upset gone as if it had never happened.

Keith stared at Lance’s bright expression, startled, but shook his head, nudging his plate away for Lance’s taking. The brunette beamed at him and took the last piece gratefully.

“Mmmmh, Allura and Coran should start a bakery,” Lance said around his mouthful.

“They sort of already have,” Keith pointed out, gesturing around them, “with all the desserts that they sell. It’s like a bakery plus a large assortment of cafe drinks.”

Lance swallowed and said thoughtfully. “Well, it’s more like a cafe with a large assortment of baked goods. So I guess it could be called—”

“A cafe-bakery,” Keith said at the same time that Lance concluded excitedly, “A bakery-cafe!”

They both paused, gaping at each other.

“Bakery-cafe,” Lance said again, simultaneously with Keith’s, “Cafe-bakery.”

“What the cheese is a cafe-bakery?!” Lance exclaimed, causing the few customers still there to look their way.

“‘What the _cheese_ ’?” Keith repeated incredulously, wanting to laugh for no clear reason. “Did you just say that?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“What—I thought we established this place is a cafe-bakery! Why are you asking what the _cheese_ it is?” Keith asked.

“That is not an established thing, we did not agree on this. We’re in a bakery-cafe,” Lance insisted.

“It’s a cafe-bakery. It’s a cafe before it’s a bakery, so the word cafe should go first!”

“That makes NO sense. Bakery-cafe sounds so much more right! What the cheese is wrong with you?”

“What the—You are not using that word right.”

“Oh, does that annoy you? You got something against cheese now?” Lance taunted, smirking.

Keith opened his mouth to argue back then paused. “Well, I used to think I was lactose intolerant because of cheese.”

Lance perked up in interest, and somehow their argument turned into Keith telling Lance about the time he accidentally ate moldy cheese and avoided dairy for a month. Their back-and-forth between conversation and bickering continued long past finishing their drinks right up until Allura kicked them out of the cafe.

“Great job. All the commotion you were causing got us kicked out,” Keith said to the taller boy once they were outside.

“How dare you! You are just as equal to blame if not more,” Lance huffed, nudging his side with his elbow.

Keith yelped, jumping away from the unexpected contact, and immediately his face flushed in embarrassment at his overreaction to the touch. Lance stared at Keith in shock before laughing his head off. Keith shoved him over, but even as he stumbled, Lance continued to laugh at Keith’s expense until he was a wheezing mess on the ground.

Keith kicked him lightly and grumbled, “C’mon, Lance, let’s get you home.”

He pulled the boy up none-too-gently, but Lance didn’t mind the manhandling, too busy stifling snorts and giggles into his hands, which only pissed Keith off more.

As they walked side-by-side, Lance’s relentless teasing gave way to more bickering and civil conversation sprinkled in between. Last time when they’d walked together, he thought he hadn’t wanted the fragile tranquility that hung between him and Lance to end. Now he knew he simply liked being with Lance, whether they were walking in silence or talking about everything and nothing.

“Now you know where I live,” Lance said when they reached his house.

A genuine smile graced Lance’s features and something lodged in Keith’s throat as the light mood seemed to shift. He stared on and Lance did too, his expression becoming uncertain, and Keith wasn’t sure what Lance saw in his expression, only aware that his pulse was abnormally fast and should he be worried?

Lance’s cheeks dusted a darker color, and his eyes, dilated under the darkening sky, remained locked on Keith. He didn’t move as Keith took a dizzying step closer. Keith couldn’t be sure if it was his imagination that Lance was leaning closer at that last second before high-pitched squealing and laughter startled him out of his reverie.

He jumped back as two small children came running onto the sidewalk and tackling Lance. Lance let out a startled laugh, picking up the smaller of the two—a boy that looked alarmingly like a little Lance—with practiced movement.

A woman shouted a string of Spanish as she rushed out the doorway swooping the little girl up and talking fast in a chastising tone.

“How many times…” the woman muttered, clicking her tongue, the first line Keith understood since being interrupted from—whatever he was trying to do.

Spanish spilled fluidly from Lance’s lips, speaking to the woman Keith presumed was his mother, probably calming her down from shouting at the two ashamed-looking children. Then he switched to English suddenly, pulling Keith over with an arm around his shoulder. “Mama, this is my friend, Keith! Keith, this is my mom.”

“Oh, so _you’re_ Keith!” she exclaimed with a wide smile identical to Lance’s.

Keith attempted a shy nod at the woman, but wasn’t able to because she was then hugging him and then urging him to come inside.

“Uh, I-I don’t really think—“ Keith stuttered, but then he was inside even with Lance also trying to tell his mom that Keith needed to go home.

“It’s okay,” his mom said, waving Lance off then turned to Keith with a sweet smile. “Veronica will drive you home after dinner.”

“Dinner?” Keith repeated, feeling a bit numb. “Oh—no, thank you, I already ate.”

Now Lance gave him an incredulous look and said, “Some green pudding and a drink is not a full meal!”

“And a scone,” Keith mumbled, shifting his gaze to the side.

“ _Half_ a scone,” Lance corrected in exasperation. “And that was _hours_ ago. You don’t even have lunch, when do you actually eat? You’re skin and bones, man! Okay, that’s it, you’re _definitely_ staying for dinner!”

Despite only having just met Lance’s mom, Keith got the feeling Lance was acting just like her right now as he ushered him into the kitchen. Lance had convinced his mom to cook dinner a bit earlier on account of their skinny guest.

Keith felt his lips twitch, wanting to smile, but his nervousness overrode it when he saw Lance’s raucous family members entering the kitchen as they were called down by Lance’s mom. Lance eagerly introduce Keith to all of them, the weight of his arm a constant and reassuring presence around his shoulders.

Keith learned Veronica was Lance’s older sister. Her name was usually shortened to Nica or sometimes Nikki, and she was the eldest of the bunch, looking somewhere in her early twenties. Marco was second oldest, looking not far in age from Veronica. The two children were Lance’s younger siblings, Maricela, Mari for short, who was 5 years old, and Luis, who was 7. Then there was Lance’s parents: his mom insisted Keith call her Luz, rather than Mrs. McClain, and Lance’s dad, a large and kind man, asked Keith to call him Arnold. His aunt, uncle, and grandparents were currently visiting family in Cuba, so that apparently made what Keith thought was a crowded table actually smaller to them.

When Lance finally finished introducing everyone to him, his arm left Keith as he gestured at him and said, “And guys, this is Keith.”

All of them reacted in surprise and even more strangely, _recognition_ at hearing his name. He heard a chorus of “Oh” and “So _that’s_ Keith” and the like. Keith shot a baffled look at Lance, but the other boy wasn’t looking at him, instead shouting at his family to settle down.

Keith was the center of attention of the whole table when they were finally seated and food served. Everyone piled a plate high with food before placing it in front of Keith to his dismay. He wasn’t sure if they wanted to stuff him with food or interrogate him, but they were trying both. He answered as best he could. It was mainly Veronica and Marco asking questions and they mostly just asked Keith to verify a bunch of wild stories Lance had told them before.

“Did you _really_ tackle Lance off a high-speeding bike?”

“It was my bicycle and Lance barely got his foot on the pedal before I caught him, but yeah, I may have uh, tackled him.”

Veronica and Marco had barked out a laugh at that, Marco clapping him hard on the back that had him almost falling face first into his plate of food. Lance’s dad had simple chuckled goodheartedly while his mom began chastising Lance in rapid-fire Spanish.

So maybe it wasn’t really an interrogation. Answering their questions gave Keith breaks from eating all the food they kept forcing onto his plate as they urged him to eat more, and while he ate, they gave stories about Lance in return, usually of the deliciously embarrassing variety and Keith eventually loosened up enough to laugh with the easygoing, overly-friendly family.

Once it was time for him to go home, his stomach was so painfully full, he thought he would burst—or at the very least puke a bit. The whole family bid him a warm good night, and Veronica left to get the car ready, leaving Lance and Keith alone at the dinner table.

“Are you okay? You’re looking paler than usual,” Lance commented, concern plain on his face as he placed a gentle hand against Keith’s back and began rubbing soothing circles. Lance probably didn’t even realize he was doing it. Keith suppressed shivers and gave Lance a short nod.

“Yeah, I think I ate more in the last hour than I have in the past month,” Keith muttered, holding his stomach.

Lance snorted. “Having glimpsed your eating habits, I wouldn’t be surprised if your weren’t exaggerating. C’mon.”

He pulled one of Keith’s arms over his own shoulders and the hand that had been on his back slid down to his waist. Keith tensed the moment he felt Lance’s hand brush his side, but eventually relaxed into the hold and let Lance help him to his feet.

“You better not puke in the car,” Lance teased, sounding a little breathy, but that might have been the proximity messing with Keith’s mind.

“I won’t puke,” Keith sighed, attempting to move his arm away, but then he felt the grip around his waist tighten and he stilled himself. “Seriously, I don’t need help walking. My stomach just hurts a bit.”

“Mental note to stop my mom from overfeeding you next time,” Lance said with a chuckle.

Keith blinked. _Next time?_

Veronica wrinkled her nose at the pair of them when they arrived at the car. “Don’t tell me you’re _that_ couple that can’t keep your hands off each other.”

“No!” Lance exclaimed, but his slackening grip on Keith’s side tightened once again and Keith bit his tongue. “Mullet head here has a stomachache. I’m gonna sit with him in the back. Make sure he’s okay.”

Veronica’s face immediately softened into one of concern, so Keith bit out, “I’m fine, really. Lance is overreacting.”

Veronica gave Keith a wry smile and said, “I know how that is. My boyfriend’s the same way.” Her smile then turned into a smirk. “His obsessive worrying shows how much he loves—ah, I mean, cares about you.”

Lance blanched at his sister. Keith wasn’t quite sure he heard her right. The world began to spin when he tried to digest her words. Ugh, ‘digest’ was not the best word to use. Maybe his stomachache was worse than he thought. He leaned farther into Lance’s reliable frame just in case.

“Whoa, you still holding up, buddy?” Lance asked, voice going a little lower.

Keith gave a curt nod and allowed Lance to practically haul him into the car. Lance was a little out of breath afterwards, but he stayed beside him and let Keith rest his head against his shoulder. He felt a little guilt for being so troublesome, but then another wave of pain then passed through his stomach and he closed his eyes, throwing guilt out the window as he willed the ache to pass.

Veronica turned back to them and asked, “Is he well enough to give directions to his house?”

“I know where he lives,” Keith heard Lance say, but his voice was distant.

_Food coma,_ Keith’s mind supplied. It had been too long since Keith had eaten enough to experience the resulting lethargy. He fought to stay awake, but even though Lance’s shoulder was hard and digging into his cheek uncomfortably, Lance was also warm. In his last vestiges of consciousness, Keith thought he could feel a hand soothingly running through his hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knew nothing about Lance's family that season 7 might have provided about them when I wrote this chapter since I write a few chapters ahead of what I post. Anyways, hopefully y'all saw the good points in season 7 and if not, there's always fanfics right? And as always, thank you for reading up to this point! <3


	7. He calls him babe

~He calls him babe~

Despite what everyone else seems to think, Lance has scored a number of dates before. There were many girls that had found him charming, although it never extended past ‘entertaining’ or ‘humorous’ charm. Many would cancel the day of, and no one ever really thought to get to know him past his jokes.

No one even knew there was anything to get to know past the jokes.

Lance knew he couldn’t fault Pidge for thinking in the same vein as many others. He didn’t exactly help with the image he gave others of himself, mostly because he believed what he heard about himself. He would always be “the goofball”; it was the role he perfectly fulfilled in other people’s lives—until they tired of his antics, that is.

And most people tired of him fast.

_“Go out with me.”_

The night’s events came back to him, pushing away his depressing thoughts, and Lance rolled around giddily in his bed with Sharkie clutched tight to his chest. Rolling onto his back, he held his plushie at an arms length, beady black eyes looking back at him.

“I was asked out yesterday,” Lance said in hushed tones, “by Keith.” He tested the words on his tongue, and it made a thrill run through him. He giggled, legs kicking the air as he hugged Sharkie again tightly.

He knew was acting like a middle schooler with a crush, and he knew he wasn’t actually asked out, especially not by _Keith_ of all people, but Lance let himself daydream in the safety of his room.

Lance was immensely glad he had the weekend to let his excitement from the night run its course in the privacy of his room. His whole family seemed to have the wrong idea about him and Keith as it was; he didn’t want his overexcitement to cause any weird misunderstandings at school.

Lance felt a small sense of alarm that he was going silly over a guy, never mind that the guy in mind was Keith—After all, Lance wasn’t gay. Still, he’d never been asked out before by anyone, girl or guy, since he was always the pursuer. So even if it was just a result of Keith’s poor conversational skills and unfortunate word choice, it was a nice change.

He thought about Keith’s brother, Shiro. Only knowing he was a worrywart over his adoptive younger brother and that he had been in the hospital last year, Lance was not expecting to see the tall and muscular—and handsome—man that rushed out before the car had barely even stopped so he could take the dozing Keith from the car. He was as gorgeous as he was intimidating.

Lance had never called another man gorgeous, but there it was. While he was at it, he admitted quietly to himself that sleeping Keith was sort of adorable—But awake-Keith was not! And drowsy-Keith was DEFINITELY not!

As if to spite himself, he remembered the way Keith had blinked slowly at Lance a few times, dazedly, when he roused the sleeping boy from his shoulder. He had to help him out of the car since the Keith was wobbly from his food coma, and thus he had to meet Keith’s towering bulk of a brother upfront, while Nica sat in the safety of the car.

While Shiro thanked Nica for bringing Keith home, Lance had been distracted by the way Keith was rubbing his eyes as he yawned, and then brought his hands down to hold his stomach, probably still feeling uncomfortable fullness. He reminded Lance of a cat.

In his distraction, he didn’t notice Shiro turning to them until he addressed him with, “Lance, right?”

Lance had jumped, alarmed that Shiro knew his name. He doubted his short exchange with Nica involved Lance’s name, which meant he was possibly guessing based off whatever Keith has said about Lance. Which meant Keith talked about him.

Lance had been slightly embarrassed when Keith figured out he talked about him a lot to any family member near enough to rant to, but Lance’s family all took it with fond exasperation. He didn’t know how Keith spoke of him to his brother—he guessed it was badly.

He was nervously aware of Shiro’s large build and also conscious of the prosthetic arm and hand held out to him in greeting, but he glanced up to see Shiro’s warm smile and kind eyes and relaxed enough to give him a small smile and shake his hand.

“Yeah. And you’re Shiro,” he had responded.

And after that Shiro had thanked Lance for bringing Keith home and promptly made Lance exchange contact info with him, since he was another source for keeping tabs on Keith, who still failed to inform his older brother what he was off doing most of the time.

Lance stared up at the dimming glow stars dotted all over his ceiling in wonder, full of thoughts and recent memories. He and Keith had met each other’s family. Well, he had only met Keith’s brother (and Keith’s dad sort of) but not his adoptive parents. But still.

Lance let his head fall sideways and noticed he had a light blue post-it pad on top of his cabinet. He sat up on his bed, switching on his night lamp, and Sharkie rested in his lap as he reached for the pad and pulled one square off.

Lance began folding. The repetitive action of folding until the paper began to mold to his will always put him into a sort of peaceful trance and allowed his thoughts to focus. His mind remained on Keith as he folded, flashes of all the flowers he’d folded and given to the boy flitting through his mind.

That day had been niggling at the back of his mind, always there even when he distracted himself.

His falling out with Pidge had made him forget all about it, but he remembered it now, his garden of paper flowers, passing notes in class, something happening in a school hallway, Lance drawing closer, as breathless as if he’d laughed as much as Keith had at the time, as awestruck by him as if he had been the one showered in flowers.

Lance had felt it again tonight, that feeling of being drawn in like a moth to a flame, when Keith walked him home for a short time just before his little siblings and Mom came running out of the house and interrupting. With a start, he also remembered feeling the same thing that Monday, the day his view of Keith shifted just slightly but enough to make everything off-balance, and Lance had walked Keith home.

But each time, they were interrupted just in time—a phone, a bell, children, all stopping whatever was happening as if fate was telling them it was impossible and wrong and—

Lance shook away wherever that train of thought was leading to and everything else it implied. There was nothing there because Lance was overthinking things like he always does.

With a finishing twist of the center, a small blue rose now lay in Lance’s hand.

Maybe it was unlucky that he had the weekend to himself with unsettling memories now plaguing him. Lance grimaced and threw the rose and pad back on top of his cabinet and fell onto his back, arms stretched out. He then reached for Sharkie left between his legs and looked up at him again.

“It’s the excitement of our pseudo-date yesterday, that’s all,” he told him firmly. “That guy hates me.”

Lance sounded unconvinced even to himself. He couldn’t deny Keith seemed much less guarded around him lately, and he doubted Keith freely smiled and walked home people he hated.

“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t _want_ him to like me! He annoys the crap outta me,” Lance huffed at Sharkie, before bringing him back to his chest and rolling onto his side.

He stubbornly pushed the thoughts filling his head away, though that left him to reminiscing about the events of the night again. Despite all the memories stubbornly playing in repeat in his mind, Lance was tired enough to find sleep fairly quickly. He dreamed of pale skin and carding his hand through soft, dark hair.

***

Throughout all of the following day, Shiro texted Lance with questions about how Keith was doing in school, were his grades good, does he pay attention in class, is he staying out of fights.

Lance sweated at the last question, considering he and Keith were constantly fighting, though no fists had come into play in their fights yet for this school year (Lance may see Keith a bit differently now but they weren’t completely new people, so he had no doubt their record time avoiding punching each other would eventually break at some point), so he managed dance around that question. Shiro seemed to text randomly at all hours of the day, probably firing away questions to Lance as soon as they came to mind.

Keith gave little to no details to his overly-concerned brother about his life in school, Lance discovered with exasperation. He had half a mind to lecture the closed-off boy to talk to his brother just a little more about what he’s doing, because while he didn’t mind answering his questions, he was not some Keith-watchdog. Even if he does watch Keith a lot. Because keep your friends close and your enemies closer and all that.

It was Sunday afternoon when he received another text from Shiro. Lance was used to it by that point and expected another question about Keith, but Lance’s mood soured upon reading the first text not about Keith.

(15:01) **Shiro:** You’re friends with Katie, right?

It was a bit weird seeing Pidge’s actual name being used, but he knew she had started predominantly using “Pidge” as her name around the time she befriended Hunk, so by the time she started talking to Lance, it was the only way he’d known to refer to her.

(15:04) **Lance:** yeah

(15:04) **Shiro:** It’s been a while since I’ve seen her. How is she?

(15:06) **Lance:** im not sure

Lance knew his change in mood was evident in his curt replies contrasted to his essay reports on Keith, but he didn’t really want to be reminded of Pidge. Eventually, he would talk to her. He would never just cut off his friendship with Pidge and Hunk, or otherwise his own conscience would nag at him in the form of his mother’s lectures. He just needed some time away to deal with the hurt.

Shiro, always the prompt replier that he was, took longer than usual to respond. Lance could see he was typing some reply, but he decided to ditch his phone, leaving his room to play with Luis and Mari.

It was nighttime when Lance finally checked his phone again. He had just finished his homework and wanted to surf the web for a bit before going to sleep. When he opened his phone, he was shocked to see a number of messages from Shiro.

(15:06) **Shiro:** Oh? I was under the impression that you were close.

Lance grimaced at that, but Shiro had evidently gotten the hint that Lance didn’t want to talk about it, and so had abruptly changing the subject in his next few texts.

(15:08) **Shiro:** Keith talks about you a lot you know.

(15:08) **Shiro:** Don’t tell him I told you that.

(15:14) **Shiro:** Keith never complains to me even though I want him to share his problems with me. The fact that he constantly complains about you is actually amazing.

Lance wasn’t sure whether to be honored or ashamed that he managed to tick off a boy who never complains enough that said boy _always_ complains about him, but he read on.

(15:14) **Shiro:** It’s a good thing, don’t worry. I can see he’s comfortable with you when he complains about you.

(15:17) **Shiro:** I know Keith doesn’t have any other school friends. He only ever mentioned you, so that’s how I guessed who you were when we met.

(17:03) **Shiro:** Does Keith talk about me often? I was surprised you knew my name.

(17:04) **Shiro:** Scratch that, I’m not sure I want to know.

(17:04) **Shiro:** I just hope I’m not some dark secret of his in school. I’m not, right?

(17:05) **Shiro:** You’ve seen my arm and scar, so you know, I can see why he’d keep me a secret.

Lance was alarmed that that was the last message Shiro sent. He had given up on getting a reply after such a depressing message. Lance quickly wrote a reply.

(00:34) **Lance:** its not that keith keeps u a secret! ur obvi important to him even if he doesnt mention u oftn, he just keeps to himself in general u knwo?

Lance waited a few minutes, while surfing the internet, but he received no reply so he guessed Shiro was asleep. He thought about the fact that Keith talked about him a lot.

It was a relief they both ranted about each other. Knowing he wasn’t the only one made him feel he wasn’t so abnormally obsessed about Keith as his whole family claimed he was. If he really was, it meant Keith was just as obsessed with Lance.

Lance wasn’t sure what to do with that thought, so he forced himself to forget it and sleep.

***

Lance was eating breakfast with his family when his phone vibrated in his pocket and he checked it. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he saw the messages.

(6:44) **Shiro:** WTF LANCE when and why did you exchange phone numbers with Shrio??? Whatve you been tellin ghim about me!? You better stop you bastard!!!

(6:44) **Shiro:** This is Keith btw

Lance wiped his hands on his jeans and began typing a reply.

(6:45) **Lance:** take a chill pill dude i never said anything bad

(6:45) **Lance:** also y u on ur bros phone?

(6:46) **Shiro:** It was suspicious he was looking at it while we were eating so I stole it

(6:46) **Shiro:** Also I don’t hav your number.

(6:46) **Shiro:** aww darling all u had to do was ask if u want my number so badly! u shudnt steal tsk tsk

Before Keith’s reply could come, Lance’s mom caught him texting at the table and confiscated his phone temporarily, and only got it back once he was leaving for school.

(6:46) **Shiro:** Give me your number then.

Below the text was Keith’s cell number and Lance felt his heart jump. He entered Keith’s contact into his phone and then just stared at it dumbly, not quite believing Keith had just given his number to Lance just like that. He hesitated to text the number though and decided he’d do it later. He was going to see Keith soon in class anyways.

***

Before leaving for school, Keith had deleted Lance’s conversation and contact from Shiro’s phone in an admittedly childish fit. He belatedly realized he could’ve used Shiro’s phone to send himself Lance’s number, but he decided he could force it out of Lance himself rather than creepily take it from his brother’s phone. 

When he made it to his first class, Keith was surprised by two things: one, Lance had arrived before him, and two, he was in Keith’s usual seat.

He smirked at Keith, challenge alight in his eyes. Keith was relieved to see him looking normal again, nothing like his tired self from Friday.

Relieved or not though, it was still Keith’s seat, so he went up to Lance and said so.

“Really? I don’t see your name on it,” Lance quipped.

“I sit there every day! You see me sit there every day!”

“Noope, I don’t recall.”

Lance grabbed onto the chair quickly, locking his ankles around the chair legs the moment Keith tried pulling him out of the chair. He could only manage to pull both Lance and the chair away from the desk together, but he figured he could just steal someone else’s seat for himself.

“Miss Dayak’s coming!” Lance shouted suddenly.

Keith jumped away from Lance, looking up, but there was no sign of the strict history teacher. They weren’t even in Ancient History class, only their astronomy teacher looked up at them from her desk with mild amusement. By the time Keith looked back, glaring and a bit humiliated that he had fallen for that cheap call, the other boy was laughing at Keith and had pulled himself back to the desk.

“I will sit on you,” Keith fumed.

Lance cackled. “Wow, that is so threatening, I’m shaking—Whoa!”

Keith practically flung himself onto Lance’s lap, his back leaning into Lance’s warm chest, before the other boy could do anything about it. He continued to not doing anything about it, sitting rigid under Keith in shock.

When he finally reacted, it was to complain. “Your ass is so bony! You seriously gotta eat more!”

“Shut it, you’re just as bony. You’re a terrible chair,” Keith huffed, shifting around. He felt Lance going tense again the moment he moved, but he wouldn’t relent.

A minute before class was to begin their teacher got up ready to start the lesson but paused when she saw Keith still leisurely sitting in Lance’s lap as they bickered.

She sighed lightly. “Mr. Kogane, Mr. McClain, please separate yourselves. I’m sure you can manage to be apart for one hour.”

“You heard her. Move,” Lance said.

“This is my seat,” Keith huffed back.

“It pains me to tell you, babe, but my lap is not your seat,” Lance responded through gritted teeth.

_Babe?_ Keith’s head spun from the word (it was the second endearment Lance gave him today), but he had enough mind to make a point of moving into a more comfortable position on Lance’s legs. Lance on the other hand was determined to push him off.

They had a mini struggle against each other, though it was an awkward one as they were both still trying to remain seated, and in the end Keith was upended from Lance’s lap. He shot a glare at Lance before taking the seat behind him, next to Pidge and Hunk. He didn’t even notice them coming in, Keith realized in alarm when he saw them.

He was aware of the whole class watching the two of them in amusement, but after a year of constant fighting with Lance, he was used to it. The reason left for Keith’s burning face was not all the eyes on him—it was the way Lance’s voice had sounded just by his ear, his breath tickling his cheek, his rapid heartbeat against Keith’s back as they fought, and even the feel of his bony thighs.

He didn’t know what compelled him to sit in Lance’s lap even though he knew what closer proximity with the other boy did to him. He just acted and as of late, his compulsive actions made him lose one way or another.

Lance stole his seat again in the next class and again in their third class, but his eyes were dimmer once again when Keith entered their psychology class. He saw that Hunk and Pidge had also made it to class before him and were sitting in their usual seats. Keith resigned himself to sitting with the trio behind Lance. He didn’t have the heart to fight with Lance when he looked miserable like that.

But then Lance leaned his chair back to rest casually against Keith’s desk, hands behind his head and taking up Keith’s space. Keith kicked Lance’s chair back down harshly, and Lance fell forward with a yelp, his hands darting away from his head to catch himself. Despite his literal laidback attitude, Lance determinedly did not look at Hunk and Pidge, even when he turned his chair around to argue with Keith for the most of the class period.

When class finished and Pidge and Hunk hurried out of the class for lunch, a tension left Lance that Keith didn’t notice until it was gone. Keith decided to keep his mouth shut.

While following Keith to one of his isolated corners of the school, Lance asked, “Do you never pack a lunch? Aren’t you hungry?”

Keith looked at the taller teen to see only curiosity in his face. He shrugged and looked away. “Not at all.”

Lance frowned but didn’t press the subject, probably remembering what happened the last time they forced Keith to eat more than his small appetite could eat all of a sudden. They settled onto the floor and Lance scarfed down his food. Keith left him to his lunch and played on his phone.

Keith was reading a new post on a theorist’s blog that he was following when Lance poked him. He ignored it in favor of finishing the post. Lance didn’t give up though, and began to poke his shoulder continuously. Even when Keith pushed Lance’s face away, keeping him at an arms length, the latter just laughed and used his long arms to his advantage and continued to poke at his face.

But then Lance attacked unexpectedly elsewhere. Keith shrieked as he jerked away, phone flying from his hand, when Lance decided to poke at his side. As his phone clattered against the floor, silence fell over them. Keith stared at Lance, their expressions mirroring shock. 

Lance recovered first, an evil grin stretching across his face as he asked in realization, “Are you ticklish?”

Keith felt blood drain from his face. “Don’t you dare—Lance!”

Lance wiggled his fingers mercilessly at Keith’s sides and he was down in an instant, sputtering in indignation before breaking into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Keith felt Lance follow him down, cackling and leaning over him as he continued his tickling assault. He was suddenly all too aware that he was underneath Lance, hands on him, leaning close enough that Keith could smell a faint citrus scent wafting off him.

The tingling sensations shooting through his body suddenly took on a whole new context and Keith quickly covered his mouth to stifle a weird sound just as it escaped his mouth.

Lance paused, and Keith immediately took that chance to kick him off. The taller boy yelped as his quite literally flew back and landed with a thud. Keith sat up to see him laying sprawled out and dazed.

Keith chuckled as he got up and kicked Lance lightly. “That’s what you get.”

Lance laughed weakly from where he lay and closed his eyes. “I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t do it again,” he promised solemnly.

“You better not,” Keith huffed.

“For as scrawny and small as you look, you kick hard,” Lance groaned as he sat up and held his stomach where Keith had kicked him off.

“I’m a late bloomer.”

When Lance only laughed, Keith started kicking him again.

“Alright! Alright! I’m sure you’ll have a growth spurt in the future and become big and strong like your brother,” Lance said, grinning even as he guarded himself from the attack.

Keith plopped back down next to Lance, sticking his bottom lip out as he frowned. He was incredibly embarrassed that Lance had discovered he was ticklish (not to mention the way he reacted to Lance’s touch— _that_ had never happened before). It felt like he now had a hold of one of Keith’s weaknesses. He turned away from Lance to hide his embarrassment.

“C’mon, don’t sulk, dude. I’m just teasing!”

“I’m not sulking!” Keith snapped, turning to see Lance retreating a outstretched hand to raise in surrender.

Instead of snapping back, Lance had an easygoing smile on, which did well to calm down Keith’s own frayed nerves. He let his tense shoulders relax but continued to frown at the other boy. Lance visibly relaxed as well, letting his hands fall back into his lap.

“Do you wanna go to the Cafe of Lions again after school today?” Lance asked suddenly, before silence took over them.

Keith looked at him in surprise.

“I have a sudden craving for Coran’s food goo again. I know I just ate, but I mean, I can crave food to have later, so—yeah,” Lance explained quickly. “I like the atmosphere there. It’s kinda homey, y’know?”

Keith did know, and he was glad Lance understood the feeling. Before Lance continued rambling, he nodded. “Of course I’ll go, Lance.”

Lance’s face immediately brightened. He probably didn’t realize he was blinding Keith right now with his smile. Keith felt his own expression attempt to mirror Lance’s, his lips curving into a small smile without his permission.

_I think…I might possibly have a_ slight _crush on him._ Keith smile twisted into a rueful one, ugly in contrast to Lance’s bright one.


	8. He can't stay away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I can't believe my summer break is over already ;-; It feels like time is passing quickly, I'm gotta relish my teenage years!!! As in, be a hermit and find other hermit pals. This fic is my escape from stress so it's generally just gonna be a crap ton of self-indulgent fluff.

~He can’t stay away~

“Last one there is a rotten egg!” Lance shouted, taking off at a sprint the moment the cafe was in sight.

“What the—That’s not fair, Lance!” Keith called after him, stumbling over a dip in the ground as he ran to catch up.

When Keith entered the cafe, Lance was already paying Coran at the counter. Keith shot a sharp look at Lance who had turned to smirk at him then turned to Coran.

“Where’s Allura?” Keith asked, leaning on the counter next to Lance.

Coran was rarely allowed at the register since he always had crazy stories to tell, distracting customers away from actually ordering anything.

Coran pointed to the kitchen and said, “I expect she’s still in there on her phone. She got a call that had her running back there and pushing me out here.”

“That’s unusual. Allura’s all about work ethic,” Keith remarked as he looked over the assortment of baked goods on display for today.

“Is something going on with her?” Lance asked, frowning in concern.

“Ah yes, all is well!” Coran reassured, smiling widely at the two and easing their concerns. He then slapped a firm hand on Keith’s shoulder and raised an authoritative eyebrow at him. “But make sure to keep your brother in line. As good a man as he is, I won’t be so lenient if he continues to distract Allura from her work like this!”

Keith blinked owlishly at older man. Lance gawped next to him, things clicking in his mind much faster than Keith’s as he shouted, “Allura and Shiro are a thing!?”

Keith got over his surprise quickly, having expected this development a long while back. He was more interested in looking at the distraught teen frozen next to him. When Lance remained stuck in his shocked state, Keith poked his shoulder. Lance immediately reacted, shaking his head aggressively as if to shake away the shock before misery took over and he slumped over the counter, splaying his arms out.

“There goes my chances down the drain,” Lance groaned, voice muffled with his face flat against the surface. “Nothing and no one could compete against Shiro. Ugh, wait, nothing and no one could compete against either of them. And now it’s the ultimate combination…”

Coran patted Lance’s back while Keith rolled his eyes. He looked back down at the sweets. He didn’t have much interest in any of the muffins or other assortments except for the scones, but his favorite raspberry scones were out, leaving only the blueberry ones. He settled for one of the blueberry scones and then began ushering Lance to sit.

“What did you order anyway?” Keith asked when they were seated.

“Food goo, of course, and nunvill for both of us!” Lance answered excitedly, thoughts of Allura falling to the wayside for now, though Keith expected he’d be hearing a lot more complaints about Lance’s lost chances in the future.

“Nunvill?” Keith repeated in confusion.

“It’s another new Coran recipe, not yet on the menu,” Lance elaborated with a grin. “It’s alcoholic apparently, but Coran’s gonna make us the nonalcoholic version.”

“Which is what, fruit juice?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, but I’m so ready to try it,” Lance said, rubbing his hands together.

Soon enough, Coran served their plates of food goo and nunvill, which was poured into a round white cup with a blue stripe, matching it to the rest of the cafe.

“Are these cups new?” Lance asked, holding the cup in his palm and examining it with fascination.

Coran nodded. “Yup! Found it along with the nunvill recipe in my late grandfather’s trunk. I was very excited to bring a piece of home here.”

“Wow, he must have great taste,” Lance said.

“He was a genius,” Coran said, nodding solemnly before taking off to check on Allura.

Keith stared down at his drink. “It’s pink,” he remarked.

“Enough with your judging,” Lance huffed. He took a swig of the drink and froze the moment it was in his mouth, his eyes bulging out.

He put the cup down in a hurry and covered his mouth. Keith watched, unsure whether he was amused or concerned as Lance’s face turned a tint of blue, a whine escaping his throat. After flailing around for a bit, Lance somehow managed to swallow, but slumped back in his chair as if the life had gone out of him, his face still a sickly off-color.

Keith looked down at his drink, wondering if it was that bad. Lance did tend to be overdramatic. He gave in to curiosity and tried it, which—no. He spit it right back into the cup, pushing the offensive drink away hastily and shoveling down some of the bland food goo to take some of the taste away.

“Allura would never allow this onto the menu!” Keith gasped, once the food goo had—miraculously—stripped away the rest of the taste.

“Hmm, well the drink isn’t for everyone, I suppose,” Coran said brightly, startling Keith.

Keith looked up at the man in disbelief while Lance remained unresponsive.

Coran set down a plate of a warmed blueberry scone. “Sorry that took a while, I was rather distracted talking to some customers.”

“I-It’s fine,” Keith said. “I think Lance needs some water. Or actually, I’ll just buy us both Thai tea.”

“Oh it’s quite alright!” Coran exclaimed as Keith was getting up to pay at the register. “I’ll whip up your replacement drinks on the house, since you let me use you both as testers for the nunvill! I’ll make some adjustments to the recipe so hopefully it can officially be put on the menu.”

Keith pressed his lips into a tight thin line, not sure how to tell Coran to scrap the drink altogether. In the end, he decided to leave it to Allura and said nothing, accepting the free replacement drinks for him and Lance.

Keith kicked Lance, effectively pulling him from his daze as he kicked Keith back as if on reflex.

“I can’t believe I ingested that,” Lance groaned, holding his stomach. “That drink tasted like—like hot dog water and feet!”

Keith made a face. “Don’t remind me.”

“I was expecting it to be sweet since it was pink, but man… Just drives the point of not judging food by how it looks, huh?” Lance said, smiling wryly at Keith.

Keith smiled back, pushing Lance’s Thai tea closer to him. Lance accepted it gratefully. After an especially long sip, Lance let out a happy sigh. He laid his cheek against the table and swirled the drink around idly.

“Y’know,” Lance said, sitting up, “the orange of this drink doesn’t really match the orange on my sleeves. And the green goo is way brighter than my jacket.”

“Okay?” Keith responded, unsure what Lance’s point was.

“Sooo, I’m saying this combination of color is not at all like my jacket,” Lance huffed. He looked back and forth between the drink and food goo, a fond smile playing on his lips. “Oh, the orange definitely matches that bandana Hunk always wears. And the green is like Pidge’s jacket!”

Lance laughed but it quickly died away into a bitter smile. He let the smile fall away altogether as he sipped his drink. He no longer seemed to have an appetite for the food goo though, pushing it slightly farther away.

Unsure what to do, Keith offered his blueberry scone to the upset boy. The gesture managed to pull a half smile back out of Lance.

“What’s this? Is the emo mullet head trying to comfort me?” Lance joked halfheartedly as he took the scone. He then froze, scone midway to his mouth, and looked at Keith. “Did Hunk put you up to this?”

Before Keith could even answer, Lance dropped the scone onto his plate and stood up quickly, causing Keith to startle. He ran his hands through his hair, messing it up and causing ends to stick out all over as he began to pace back and forth beside their table.

He began to mutter to himself, unaware of all the eyes he attracted to himself, “Of course, I can’t believe I didn’t realize it. No one can resist those killer puppy dog eyes of his! And here I thought…”

Keith stood up. “Lance—“

Lance smacked his face and groaned, “I knew you were being too nice lately!”

“I wasn’t—“

“Asking to hang out, paying for me, walking me home, smiling at me…”

“Oh my god, listen!“

Lance whirled on him and poked him hard in the chest. “No, you listen, Mr. I’m-Too-Hot-For-You-And-You-Should-Be-Grateful-I-Even-Graced-You-With-My-Presence!”

Keith gaped at him, unsure whether to be flattered or insulted, but Lance continued to jab Keith’s chest with his finger, scowling. “I appreciate the effort, but I can take care of myself, thankyouverymuch!”

“I know that!” Keith snapped, grabbing Lance’s wrist roughly and pulling his accusatory finger away.

If some people hadn’t notice the scene they were making, they were definitely looking now.

“Then what’s with the pity act?!” Lance shook off Keith’s grip.

“I’m not pitying you!”

“I don’t see any other explanation! There’s no way you’d be this—this _nice_ otherwise!”

“Are you fucking serious?”

Keith can’t be nice? That’s apparently a fact for Lance! What, so every open moment they spent was just Keith acting out of pity?

Keith felt his whole body tremble with anger at Lance’s declaration.

“No wonder you and Pidge haven’t made up yet,” he spat out viciously.

Lance faltered for only a second then he was opening his mouth to shout back.

“Keith, Lance!” Allura’s voice cut through air sharply, strong and commanding as she marched over to them, Coran close behind with a worried frown. “What is going on here? I won’t tolerate schoolboy squabbles interrupting my business!”

“Sorry, Allura,” Keith said hastily before jerking his head back at Lance, “but I can’t help that this baby over here can’t handle his problems and has to take it out on everyone else around him!”

“Don’t try to pin this on me! I didn’t _ask_ for the special treatment! I didn’t ask you to be around me!” Lance’s voice rose with each word, and he pushed Keith back with each sentence.

Keith’s blood began to boil, his fists clenched so tight they shook—He wanted to punch the bastard in front of him, he wanted to hurt him like Keith was hurting, tear into his chest with words he knew didn’t mean, as long as it hurt.

Keith followed his impulse, fist raising and poisonous words on his tongue, only to find the world spinning as he was upended off the ground. His head knocked against the hard floor, and his vision swam for a few dizzying seconds.

“Whoa…” Lance’s voice spoke from somewhere afar. 

After blinking his vision clear, Keith stared up in shock at Allura, who stood over him, arms crossed and pinning him with a stern look. Coran was somewhat behind her, bodily blocking Lance from Keith. It slowly registered in Keith’s mind that Allura had flipped him.

Allura let out a long sigh, shooting Keith a look of disappointment that almost matched Shiro’s. She really has been spending too much time with Shiro if she was getting his expressions down that well.

“I’ve called your brother over to pick you up, Keith, so stay put till then,” Allura informed before turning to Lance. “You are to leave also and you are both not allowed back until you can learn to keep civil with each other.”

“You called Shiro?!” Keith exclaimed, sitting up while Lance shouted out his own indignant response.

“He’ll be here in a matter of minutes,” she said with a note of finality and then she and Coran left to apologize each of their customers personally.

Keith groaned inwardly, hanging his head down. Now he was troubling his brother all over again. Why couldn’t Allura just keep this to herself? Or actually, why couldn’t Lance accept Keith can be nice? This was all Lance’s fault.

A light kick to his shoe made him look up to see Lance holding a hand out to him, though he was pouting as he did so. Keith scoffed, batting his hand away and getting up on his own. Hurt flashed through Lance’s eyes as he pulled his hand back, but rather than feeling guilty, Keith was bitterly satisfied by it.

“Sorry.”

The mumble was so quiet, Keith almost thought he imagined it. He looked at Lance with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed, but the other boy looked sincerely ashamed, and Keith’s satisfaction was immediately replaced with reluctant concern.

Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath, channeling his inner Shiro _(“Remember, Keith, patience yields focus.”)_ , before facing Lance again.

“Should we…talk it out?” Keith suggested, gesturing back at their seats. Instead of calm, the question came out strained, but relief washed through Lance’s face nonetheless and he nodded, sitting immediately into the seat nearest to him, which had been Keith’s seat. Brushing off a spark of childish irritation, Keith went around and took Lance’s previous seat.

Heavy silence weighed over them. Keith was still angry at Lance inside, but he also still cared too much about him to storm out on him (and also avoid confrontation with his brother)—unfortunately. All it served to do was keep him in his seat in front of Lance, but he was unwilling to start whatever “talking it out” they should be doing.

Lance looked over where Allura was walking two dissatisfied customers to the door and guilt took over his expression. She looked back at the two of them with a sharp gaze, but didn’t seem inclined to chase Lance out immediately since they were no longer causing a commotion. 

Keith turned back to Lance, startled to see he was already gazing back at him.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said to him, more clearly this time and no less sincere. His eyes wandered down to his hands on the table. “I’ve been a little…stressed, and I just can’t—“ Lance stopped and took a shaky breath. “I act like I’m all that with you, but I know how you think of me, and I just keep thinking about Pidge and—and what _she_ thought of me, what _others_ think of me, especially _you_ , and I don’t see why you’d ever want to hang out with me voluntarily—I’m _still_ sort of questioning that part, but I shouldn’t have gotten mad about it, because I know I’m just…”—Lance gestured at himself halfheartedly, expression miserable—“me.”

Keith frowned at Lance, completely thrown off by Lance’s view of himself. “What are you talking about?”

Lance shrunk even more in his seat.

“Just you?” Keith went on incredulously. 

He still didn’t respond and irritation surged up in Keith’s chest, but he forced it down with some difficulty. He then noticed Lance’s hands on the table, clenched so tight his knuckles were white and trembling.

Keith didn’t realize what he was doing until a clenched fist was under his own hand and Lance sharply inhaled though his nose. A bit of warmth spotted Keith’s cheeks, and he hoped with all his might that he wasn’t blushing visibly. He kept his sight firm on their hands.

“You’re not _just_ anybody, Lance,” Keith muttered, just loud enough for Lance to hear. He could see boy in front of him shifting to lean closer nonetheless to catch the soft words. Keith didn’t know where to start to elaborate what he meant, how he should explain to him what he was to Keith.

“And I’m not doing anything out of pity,” Keith ended up saying.

He finally turned his head up, trying to express words he didn’t know how to speak as he locked onto wide bright blue eyes. He heard Lance’s breath catch in his throat, and the tight fist under his hand loosened. Keith vaguely wondered what his damning expression must have revealed to Lance, but he could barely concentrate when the other boy’s face was somehow getting closer over the small round table.

Lance’s other hand fell over Keith’s, and they both looked down at their hands, their foreheads bumping together. Instead of pulling away with some excuse as Keith expected, Lance’s hand squeezed his lightly, and Keith felt his chest tighten with it as if Lance were holding his heart instead of his hand.

“Wow,” Lance whispered, breath ghosting over Keith’s lips. He then cleared his throat. “This is uh, really weird.”

Irritation alongside exasperated fondness flared right up in Keith’s chest and he was ready to close that last inch of distance—table and food in the way be damned—but the bell on the door chiming had Lance springing back so harshly, his chair tipped back and he was crashing onto the floor in a painful tangle of the chair legs and his own limbs.

Keith almost wanted to groan in frustration if he wasn’t wincing at Lance alongside the small number of other witnesses. Shiro hurried over to the mess of a boy, crouching down and asking if he was alright. Lance groaned where he and the chair lay on the floor but gave a weak thumbs up.

As Shiro helped Lance back up, Keith glanced around, suddenly aware of how many people might have been witness to their “really weird” moment.

Shiro had gotten here pretty fast, considering he’d driven from campus, so he must have rushed right into the cafe without noticing anything through the window.

Only two other customers were still in the cafe, one with a computer in front of them and a coffee mug, the other with a book and boba tea. Both of them were looking up, only distracted away from their individual activities because of the loud crashing.

Allura and Coran, however, were both at the register counter and most definitely could have witnessed the whole thing.

Keith pulled his hand back to his side of the table, bringing it up to rest his chin on as he oh so casually looked out the window, face burning.

“Keith, I heard from Allura you were fighting with Lance.” Shiro’s attention finally turned from helping Lance to Keith, his voice stern.

Keith moved his head slightly in Shiro’s direction but refused to fully turn around as he gave a noncommittal shrug.

“Keith,” Shiro’s said, voice harder, but Keith made no reaction.

“Wait, Shiro, we aren’t fighting anymore,” Lance spoke up from where he was now standing. “We always sort of fight, so—oh, I-I mean, it never gets too bad? And it didn’t escalate thanks to Allura and Coran!”

Keith turned away from the window, finally feeling calm enough to face them. Lance stood in front of Keith defensively before Shiro, whose hands were resting in his hips in his most authoritative stance as he towered Lance with an unimpressed expression.

Keith got up from his seat, standing next to Lance. Their shoulders brushed and Keith wasn’t sure whether he wanted to smirk at the way Lance reacted even to his slightest touch or grin stupidly when he didn’t move away from Keith’s touch. He tried not to think too much about either nor what any of it implied.

“Yeah, we were just talking it out after Allura stopped our fight,” Keith said.

“Really,” Shiro said flatly, disbelievingly. Keith was too distracted to be annoyed by it.

Lance still wasn’t shying away from his touch. The backs of their hands had brushed together several times now and he couldn’t tell if it was coincidental or not, but it made his heart stop each time it happened.

Shiro stared at them a moment longer before relaxing marginally, hands falling away from his hips. “I’m glad you worked it out.”

The two boys both nodded, and Shiro now stood uncertainly. Keith could tell he had come with every intent of lecturing Keith and dragging him home, but now their ban from the cafe was void and there was no need for him to be there.

Allura came with a steaming mug, placing her other hand on Shiro’s shoulder to get his attention. They met each other’s gazes, gentle smiles hovering on both of their lips. Keith turned away, not wanting to watch the two have their moment. Lance seemed to think the same, turning at the same time and meeting Keith’s eyes.

He quickly turned away to the other side and shuffled a few inches away, leaving Keith’s arm feeling cold and bare.

“Why don’t you stay a while, Shiro?” Allura suggested, holding the mug out to him. “It’s your usual. You definitely need it.”

Shiro glanced at the time then gratefully accepted the mug and said, “I don’t see why not. My class is in an hour so I have some time.”

“Now you can tell us about your day and get Keith’s opinion instead of texting me about it constantly,” Allura said teasingly, winking much too obviously.

Shiro turned red, glancing at Keith and Lance as he stuttered out a response. Keith raised an eyebrow, confused about what was making his brother so self-conscious.

Lance then interjected, “I should be getting home.”

“I’ll walk with you,” Keith said. He did not want to be alone with Shiro and Allura flirting, but Lance gave him an apologetic smile.

“Better not, mullet. My mom will never let you go if you fall into her grasp again. Actually all of them practically want to adopt you into the family,” he snorted.

Keith was taken aback by this information, and Lance scratched the back of his neck, now looking embarrassed as Shiro eyed them with a thoughtful expression, having quickly regained his composure.

“I’m sure Keith has nothing else to do,” Shiro said and Keith narrowed his eyes at his brother, unsure what he was playing at. “I’m staying on campus till late tonight to finish a project with Matt and—well just me and Matt, so you can have dinner with them again.”

Keith remembered the last time he had dinner with the McClains and managed to heat up and drain of blood consecutively. Instead of waiting for a response, Shiro asked Allura to get them to-go boxes for their food and she left and came back with them promptly. Shiro took his usual seat by the counter, sipping contentedly at his latte, leaving Lance and Keith on their own by their table.

“I’ll just go home,” Keith said.

“Um, well I definitely don’t mind if you come over again. We can study together,” Lance mumbled with a shrug, kicking at his backpack which sat under the table. “And I’ll make sure they don’t force you to eat too much when it’s dinnertime.”

Keith looked at Lance with wide eyes. Lance was not only asking to study together but also inviting him to have dinner with his family again, this time on purpose. He was allowing Keith into familial territory, a place of intimacy and closeness.

Lance saw Keith’s expression and added quickly, “If you want to come over, of course.” His voice went high as he asked, “Do you?”

He stared at Keith with a sort of tense anticipation and Keith was hit again with the realization that he felt something _more_ than friendship towards Lance. It may have been a long time coming, but it was also something that hadn’t disturbed Keith’s interactions with Lance thus far.

He could continue to keep Lance at a distance, as close as school friends could be—or rivals, or whatever they were now. There was still time to retreat safely into his own bubble away from the pain that comes with caring about someone else. Or he could condemn himself whatever this was between them as he became closer involved with Lance and his life outside of school—into his personal life.

He shouldn’t. He was setting himself up for pain and rejection down the road.

But Keith looked into Lance’s eyes and Keith was always the act first, think later sort of guy. He followed his instincts and his feelings, and it would always lead him back to the boy before him. It may have been too late to retreat from Lance long before Keith even realized it.

So he nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading this far!


	9. He finally understands

~He finally understands~

They had been studying for _hours_.

“Ughhhhhh,” Lance groaned, rolling onto his back away from the mess of textbooks and paper.

He kicked the last of his blanket off his bed, heaping it over Keith, who lay on his stomach, reading on the floor beside Lance’s bed. Keith only shook his head so the blanket settled over his shoulders and continued to read and take notes on the assigned reading, undisturbed.

Lance scoffed and threw a pillow right at his head. That finally got Keith’s attention as he huffed in irritation and threw the pillow back. Lance caught it and snickered, ready for an epic pillow fight, but Keith was already looking back down, not even minding his messy hair falling all over his face.

“You’re already ahead enough in almost all our classes! Why’re you still studying?” Lance complained, thrashing his arms and legs against his bed in a childish fit.

“Well, I’m just passing time. You’re the one that needs to keep studying,” Keith pointed out. “You still have an essay to finish for Ancient History to do after you finish the assigned reading for psychology. All due tomorrow.”

Lance groaned again, long and exaggerated as he splayed out his arms and legs. “I’m just taking a break. Ever heard of it, or do you actually just study all day every day?”

Keith sighed and finally closed his textbook, _thank god_. Lance felt like he studied more today than he had in a week combined, and he would physically fight Keith if he tried to insist Lance continue studying longer. He had no idea someone as fiery as Keith managed to stay put doing one thing for hours, while Lance could barely concentrate on that stupid textbook for a few minutes.

But, he guessed that was the distinct difference between their respective inattentiveness. Lance’s mind liked to wander, and Keith’s mind liked to focus on one thing and nothing else.

“I have other hobbies,” Keith answered simply.

“ _Other_ hobbies?” Lance repeated incredulously, rolling back onto his stomach to look at Keith with wide eyes. “As in, studying is seriously one of your _hobbies_?”

Keith pulled himself up into a criss-cross position so he wouldn’t have to crane his neck to look up at Lance. Lance’s blanket wound more snugly around Keith as he sat up and Lance wondered if his scent would remain on the other boy after this.

His face flushed slightly at the thought and shoved it away, stomping it down, and burying it in the depths of his mind. He’d been going through that three-step process a lot lately with all his runaway thoughts.

Keith answered his question casually, unaware of Lance’s sudden internal crisis, “Yeah, it passes time. I don’t find it particularly fun or boring.”

“Oh man, I’m afraid to ask what your other hobbies are.”

Keith rolled his eyes, his gaze catching onto Sharkie who had fallen alongside Lance’s blanket near Keith. Alarmed, Lance readied to snatch Sharkie to hide away defensively, but Keith was already sweeping the plushie up into his blanketed arms, a smile forming on his lips, and—quite suddenly, Lance didn’t want to take Sharkie away, he wanted to be in his place.

Another thought to shove, stomp, and bury.

“At least I don’t still play with dolls,” Keith said teasingly, holding the shark out to Lance.

Lance snatched Sharkie back and hugged him chokingly tight.

“Where did you get it? Looks worn out,” Keith commented.

“Sharkie was a prize at a carnival me and Hunk went to when we were really little,” Lance explained. “Hunk won him, but he didn’t really like sharks and I _loved_ them, so he gave the prize to me.”

Keith’s teasing smile softened at the edges as he repeated, “Sharkie?”

“Yes, his name is Sharkie! In my defense, I named him when I was like, five,” Lance huffed, feeling strangely shy. He gotten the shark at eight years old actually, but close enough—he was still young at the time and he wasn’t some professional name-giver.

And anyways, Keith was still giving him that devastatingly soft smile. Lance tried his best not to short-circuit.

“Do you still love sharks?” Keith asked.

“Are you kidding? Of course I do! Sharks are the best!” Lance exclaimed, jumping off his bed to sit beside Keith on the floor. “People think sharks are super dangerous and eat humans or whatever, but sharks wouldn’t even like us as a regular food source—They normally eat things high in fat like seals, but, y’know, we’re a whole lotta bone, especially our arms and legs. Also sharks don’t go out of their way to attack us when they see us. They’re either provoked or like—so when sharks see humans, they have no way of investigating us other than to cautiously approach and try nibbling us, but with our fragile composition, even that’s fatal. But it’s like how we use our hands to examine something, they do the same with their teeth. They bite humans out of curiosity.”

Lance faltered, realizing he had been rambling. Their shoulders brushed as Lance moved about, flailing his arms every which way while he talked on about the beloved sea animal, but Keith didn’t move away, instead looking fascinated with what Lance was saying.

“A-Anyways, sharks are underappreciated and super cool and important and…yeah,” Lance finished lamely, feeling shy all over again.

Keith hummed in agreement, and Lance became aware that Keith was now leaning against him, still wrapped up in Lance’s blanket, watching Lance’s hands. Lance forced himself not to fidget as they fell into silence.

Keith then said thoughtfully, “In child development, they mention something about tactile investigation and why babies put things in their mouth. Sharks are like children.”

Lance opened his mouth to quip back, only to find Keith’s comment made sense. “Yeah, actually.”

“That’s adorable.”

“Sharks are also like me—active at night,” Lance said on a whim, and then felt his cheeks heat up when Keith shifted abruptly to look at him, but Lance refused to look back. Though Keith didn’t say anything, Lance felt compelled to explain, “Y’know, ‘cause I always do my homework at night and I’m not a morning person.”

“Uh, right. You didn’t have to explain,” Keith said, but Lance noticed he was now burying himself deeper into his blanket, face half-hidden.

“Are you cold?” Lance asked, bringing an arm up around him, pausing just before his arm settled around the other boy’s shoulders. In the space of a single second, Lance had a mini war with himself whether to go through with it or not. But the action of putting his arm up had already happened and it would be weird to put his arm up only to put it back down, right?

So he hesitantly let his arm drop around Keith’s shoulders. Keith continued to lean against Lance, and he wasn’t running for the hills at the touch, so Lance let himself relax.

Keith’s face was now fully hidden under the blanket with only his hair poking out.

Lance tightened his grip around Keith and asked a little worriedly, “Hey, are you okay?”

With only his hair visible still, he nodded, and Lance realized the boy wasn’t shivering—actually his body felt like a furnace. He was emanating warmth even through Lance’s thick comforter and realization hit him like a slap to the face.

A wide smirk crept onto his face as he said, “Kogane, could it be that you’re embarrassed right now?”

Lance used his free hand to pull the blanket down from Keith’s head, revealing his flushed cheeks and glaring gaze. Lance gave him a toothy grin and Keith glared harder.

“Aww, the ever-stoic Keith Kogane is embarrassed,” Lance crowed, poking at his cheek.

Keith swatted his hand away, but refused to respond, turning away and pouting in silence. A fleeting thought of kissing the pout away crossed Lance’s mind.

Before he could complete his shove-stomp-bury process on that thought, the door opened and Nica entered, talking loudly. “Laaance, Mom made dinner—Oh.”

She took in the two’s position—Keith blushing and wrapped in Lance’s arm and blanket. Lance strangely felt like they got caught doing something incriminating, even though they weren’t doing anything. Well, Lance was thinking of—nope, shove, stomp, bury.

Nica jabbed her thumb out the door, looking ready to close the door as she asked, “Should I…?”

Lance jumped onto his feet and shouted, “Dinner’s ready! Let’s go!” He turned to Keith, holding out a hand to help him up.

Keith was slow to respond, slowly from Lance’s face down to his outstretched hand, and for a second Lance thought he would reject it again. It wouldn’t be the first or second time he’d done that, but Lance swore his heart stopped when Keith did accept his proffered hand.

A second of Lance staring dumbly and then he pulled the boy up. The comforter fell to the floor in a lumpy heap, but Lance didn’t bother pick it up, keeping a tight hold of Keith’s willing hand as if it might disappear, dragging him past Nica with all her twinkling mischievous eyes and knowing smiles.

Dinner was a repeat of the first time Keith was there, except Lance acted like a bodyguard, not letting anyone force more food onto Keith’s plate that he would be too polite to refuse, unless Keith explicitly told Lance it was okay.

Abuela was also at the table too tonight, having recently arrived back from Cuba with his aunt and uncle. She continued to insist Keith eat more with what little English she knew, even after Lance had repeatedly explained to her in Spanish not to push Keith.

“Overprotective,” Lance heard Marco mutter to Nica who just laughed and whispered something back.

Lance narrowed his eyes at the two, but they just shot him smirks and said no more.

Lance’s family occasionally tried needling into Keith’s life, but after learning he’d lost both his parents a young age, even as bluntly as Keith answered as if it didn’t even concern him (for all his tone indicated, Lance could see his hands close a bit too tightly under the table) they became more cautious with their nosiness, mostly keeping to his school life with Lance.

If his mom hadn’t been wanting to adopt Keith into their family before, she definitely wanted to now, often finding excuses to get up so she could give him hugs as she passed by and even giving his forehead a kiss once, as if to make up for all the affection Keith missed out on growing up.

Lance found himself wishing he could do the same as his mom, but it probably (definitely) wouldn’t come off as the same kind of affection. (Shove, stomp, bury.)

Mari in particular became very attached to Keith. He had a shy demeanor around the two children, seeming at a loss with how to treat them so he ended up treating them like fragile glass. It was frustratingly endearing, and Mari liked his gentle attitude which directly contrasted with her rough and boisterous family, so she clung to him the most, sitting on his lap for most of dinner.

Whenever Mari came back from whatever distracted her from the table—which was usually Luis who always finished food as quickly as possible so he could continue playing with all his boundless energy—to climb Keith’s lap, Lance would be reminded of when Keith shamelessly sat in his lap in astronomy class and he’d snicker a little.

Whether Keith was reminded of the same thing or conditioned from their long-time rivalry, his snickering would set Keith on edge and he’d shoot glares at him, never effective enough when Keith was sticking his bottom lip out in more of a pout than a frown.

Keith took an especially long time to finish his food tonight since absolutely no one would ever let him just eat his food as they all talked at him simultaneously.

When he miraculously did finish his food, he thanked Lance’s mom for the food and complimented her cooking, which was a mistake in Lance’s honest opinion, because then his mom bounded around the table and went for one of her choking hugs, even with Mari stuck in the middle complaining loudly.

“Aaalright, mami, we better get back to studying,” Lance huffed, extricating Keith from his clingy family.

Mom clicked her tongue at Lance, asking with a warning look, “Are you really studying, mijo?”

Lance startled at the implication in his mom’s warning tone, also noticing Nica and Marco snickering from behind.

“Of course we’re studying!” Lance all but shouted, feeling Keith’s hand jerk at his sudden rise in volume. Lance only then realized he was still holding Keith’s hand from when he was pulling him away from everyone. He quickly turned to escape to his room so no one could comment on his red face in front of Keith, muttering a quick, “Come on,” to him.

Once in the safety of his room, he let out a sigh, flopping back on his bed. “Why are they all hell-bent on torturing me?”

Keith snorted, but his smile was undeniably warm as he lay next to Lance on his bed. An alarmed voice yelled in repeat in Lance’s head, _Keith is on your bed! Keith is on your bed!_

“They’re family. It’s what they do. Shiro’s the same way.”

Lance looked away from Keith’s face, focusing on this glow stars on his ceiling instead, willing his brain to not short-circuit. “You uh, mention Shiro a lot whenever it comes to your family.”

“Yeah, well, he’s my family,” Keith said.

“What about your parents?” Lance glanced at Keith who was now giving him a very deadpan look. “I mean your adoptive parents! Shiro’s parents.”

Keith’s face lit up with understanding then darkened immediately afterward. “I don’t know them very well. Neither does Shiro honestly.”

Lance’s eyebrows shot up and he wondered whether it would be proper etiquette to sit up for this conversation, but Keith didn’t seem inclined to get up. He turned toward Lance’s ceiling and talked with the same nonchalance he had had when explaining to Lance’s family that he was orphaned at nine years old and adopted a year later by people who had been acquainted with his parents.

“Shiro’s parents are almost always overseas for their business. The longest they stayed here was when they came back to adopt me. They left Shiro to act as the owner of the house they dumped us in, and Shiro was basically the one to raise me. He was just a teenager when I met him, but he already had all this responsibility on his shoulders and he still cared for me.”

Keith’s expression hardened. “They aren’t my parents. And they aren’t Shiro’s either, even if they’re blood-related.”

Lance turned to frown at the ceiling with Keith. “That’s…wow,” he said. He nudged his shoulder against Keith in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like. For both of you.”

Keith shrugged, his shoulder sliding against Lance’s where they were pressed together. “It was alright. Shiro had Allura and Coran, and Matt and…Pidge.” Keith seemed to tense a little at mentioning Pidge’s name to Lance, but compared to Keith and Shiro, Lance’s own problems felt petty. Sure, the fact that he and his friends weren’t talking was constantly at the back of his mind, taking space like a gaping hole, but he could _do_ something about it. He just…wasn’t.

But when push comes to shove, he could trust those two to be there for him. And him for them.

He nudged Keith again insistently so he would look at Lance.

“And you,” Lance added, smiling reassuringly. “Shiro had you too, Keith.”

Keith scoffed lightly. “I’ve only ever been a burden.”

“I’m more than sure Shiro thinks differently on that front,” Lance said, turning onto his side to face him fully.

Keith mirrored him, hair now slightly mussed up. “Oh, you’re more than sure?”

“Yeah. I’ve only ever met the guy like twice in person and otherwise learned about him through you, but even I can tell he really cares about you. I’m sure you’ve been as much as, if not more, of a support to him as everyone else you listed.”

“How?” Keith asked. A hint of desperation colored his voice and squeezed Lance’s chest.

“Because you’ve been beside him all this time, haven’t you? That alone makes you infinitely more precious to him than his parents. In my opinion.”

“What?” Keith scoffed again, but it was a little less bitter. “You’re saying just my presence makes me precious?”

Lance laughed, scooting a little closer as their voices grew softer. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean. Your presence, your existence in general. You don’t have to _do_ anything all the time to be a support to someone. Sometimes, just having someone with you is enough.”

Keith looked down, deep in thought. He murmured to himself, “Just having someone with you is enough.”

His navy blue eyes slowly trailed back up to Lance’s face and focused on him, piercing and intense, as if they could see right through him. Then he smiled, softening all his usually sharp features—even his piercing eyes became a dewy quality and Lance vaguely wondered if he was seeing an illusion.

As if to make sure he was real, Lance reached out to touch Keith’s face. His fingers brushed over pale skin, leaving them burning as he trailed feather-light touches down to his jaw.

Lance found himself smiling back at Keith, enchanted. “Yeah,” he whispered.

Lance didn’t know how long they spent staring at each other. He had a lot to think through and he knew if they stayed this way too long, his thoughts of Keith would consume him, every thought he shoved, stomped, and buried.

So he broke the trance they had fallen in. “You know it’s bad to lie down or sleep right after eating, right?”

Keith blinked a few times then sat up with a heavy sigh. Lance followed him up.

“Tired?” Lance asked.

Keith gave him a look then sighed again, looking resigned. “Sorta. Still ate a bit more than I’m used to,” Keith said, rubbing his stomach. “Let’s get your homework done then I should go home.”

“Nica can drop you home,” Lance said. “Or I can walk you home.”

“Then you’d have to walk home alone in the dark,” Keith snorted. “Don’t worry, I’m not weak. I can walk myself.”

“Nica it is then,” Lance said with a wide grin.

Keith gave Lance an exasperated look, but didn’t argue, most likely because he was fighting against a food coma and too tired to.

The door opened suddenly and Nica was popping her head in. “Lance, mom said I’m driving Keith home whenever he’s ready, so just knock on my door when it’s time.”

She then closed the door just as suddenly, causing a small draft. Lance’s blue rose was knocked off his cabinet by the gust of air and landed neatly into Keith’s hair as if that was where it was meant to be. Lance barked out a surprised laugh as Keith reached up for the rose to look at it.

“Oh it’s the twisting rose,” Keith said, eyes brightening as he looked at it.

“It’s a kawasaki rose,” Lance informed.

Keith glanced up at him, but was quickly looking back down at the rose, curling the petals, touching along a curve, admiring it. His adoration over the paper flower had Lance feeling unexpectedly bashful, just like every other time Keith had looked at Lance’s origami.

“Can you teach me?” Keith asked, looking up suddenly.

Lance startled then scratched the back his neck, cheeks warming under Keith’s wide, sparkling eyes. “Well, that would be a hard one to start with if you’ve never done much origami. Plus I don’t have any origami paper, so you’ll be stuck with small paper. That’ll make folding harder.”

Keith frowned down at the rose, but nodded in understanding. “Yeah, it does look hard to do.”

“Lilies are pretty easy though.”

Keith brightened back up immediately, leaning forward eagerly. “Will you show me how to fold a lily?”

Lance laughed and nodded. “Yeah. It’ll just be a bit hard to fold with the sticky side and how small post-it notes are.”

“I’m buying origami paper in the near future,” Keith vowed solemnly as Lance got off the bed so he could dig around him cabinet for a red post-it pad he knew he had somewhere. He had a lot of colors of post-its since his siblings used to use so many when they were in high school, and all their extra unused school material passed down to Lance. Lance had a bad habit of hoarding school supplies in his cabinet and closet.

He eventually found his multi-colored stash under a huge stack of index cards, shuffling through the colors for red and pulling it out triumphantly. When he turned to Keith, the boy had already pulled a blue post-it away from the pad that had been resting atop his cabinet. Lance pulled off a red one of his own and settled down next to Keith on the bed.

“This would be easier on a flat surface,” Lance said.

Keith just nodded shortly, impatient to begin.

It went about as well as Lance had expected, which was—not well at all. Lilies were basic and easy on regular origami paper, but even Lance, who prided himself on being good with his hands, always had trouble making all the little folds with the small, thick, and sticky paper.

Lance was also patient when his hands were occupied, fiddling around with the paper. Keith on the other hand, was not. He could sit still and hyperfocus on anything, if his mind was being occupied. Keith could be called one-track minded, but it also meant he was goal-driven and it usually worked to his advantage.

With origami though, Lance used it to let his mind wander and recalibrate without the need to be doing something with his hands getting in the way, but that meant it didn’t occupy enough of Keith’s mind to give him patience.

After much struggle, cries of frustration, throwing the unfinished thing everywhere in many fits of rage, Keith finally created a barely recognizable lily. The stem of the lily was a mess of sides sticking out that refused to go down and edges worn away from repeated attempts to fold it right. Petals stuck out at strange angles and were crumpled from all the imprecise folds. It was a parody of Lance’s finished product.

Keith frowned at his creation. Lance thought it was perfect.

“I’ll leave the origami to be your thing,” Keith muttered, glancing around. “Where’s your trashcan?”

“You’re throwing it away?” Lance asked, distraught. He snatched Keith’s flower away before he could even answer and said, “It’s your first creation!”

“You’re too sentimental. I’d rather not be reminded of my failure,” Keith said.

“It’s not a failure!” Lance insisted, cradling the flower protectively against his chest as if it could hear Keith’s insults. “It’s only a failure if you gave up on it! This is your first attempt that you’ll continue to look fondly back on! You can only progress from here!”

Keith stared at Lance incredulously then looked away, face colored with embarrassment. Lance couldn’t blame him. He really was a sentimental person, probably more than most, and he didn’t really expect Keith to understand, but he just didn’t want him to throw the flower away.

“You can keep it for me,” Keith mumbled, running a hand through his thick hair.

“What?”

“It’s yours now. Have it,” Keith declared more loudly, glaring at Lance.

Despite its appearance, Lance was happy to have received a product of so much effort from the grumpy boy in front of him. There was a charm to all the mistakes that made it feel so much more warm than Lance’s perfectly curled red lily. It somehow reminded him of the lily he folded at Keith’s dad’s gravesite, though Lance wasn’t sure why.

Lance grinned at Keith, then got up to display the deformed blue lily on the top his desk where several other memorabilia sat around, including his own very first origami, a big orange crane from elementary school.

He jumped back onto his bed beside Keith, making them both bounce. He then plucked up his red lily and said as he reach out toward Keith, “In exchange, you can have my flower.” He tucked the end behind Keith’s ear alongside some of the bangs framing the side of Keith’s face. Red petals flared out in vibrant contrast against Keith’s black hair, bringing out the color now blossoming along Keith’s cheeks and the red of his lips.

“Wow,” Lance said a little breathlessly, mindlessly, only realizing he’d spoken aloud after it fell from his lips.

Lance let his gaze slide away from Keith’s lips and cheeks up to his eyes. Dark blue, like the ocean after a storm, a devastating beauty, gray yet bright and dancing with light.

_Oh my god._ Even Lance’s thoughts were breathless.

He couldn’t tell who had moved first, who was mirroring who. They leaned toward each other as if magnets drawn together, unable to resist.

Their foreheads just about touched and Keith’s fingers brushed lightly over Lance’s jaw. Lance’s own hands pressed into his bed as he leaned on them.

_Oh my god._ His voice in his mind repeated, shock stopping any fully coherent thoughts.

The minuscule distance between them remained, save for their foreheads, touching lightly, Keith’s bangs tickling Lance’s face. They both stayed at a standstill as if anticipating the inevitable interruption even when none came after several long seconds dragged by.

The clock hanging on his wall continued to tick, the loudest thing in the room other than their own breaths and neither of them moved. Each second felt like a minute, and Lance wondered if they’d stay like this for an eternity. And then he had to wonder if he would even mind if he could stare at Keith for an eternity. 

This time it was Keith who broke the trance.

“You should finish your homework.” And then Keith was pulling away.

Lance immediately missed his feather-light touches, where his forehead had been barely touching, fingers barely brushing, hair tickling.

Keith turned away and tucked the red lily more securely behind his ear as he slid off Lance’s bed and back to his studying as if nothing had happened.

Lance was awestruck for a few more seconds before he shook himself out of it. With extreme difficulty, he managed to take notes on the psychology assigned reading and write something probably nonsensical for his history essay.

In the car with Nica, Lance and Keith’s usual bickering resumed like normal yet also completely off-kilter at the same time. Like a screen Lance hadn’t realized he’d been looking through all this time had been lifted and he was left feeling unsettled with the same world around him but in a whole new light that had him squinting at its strangeness.

Lance said goodbye to Keith and Shiro in a daze, looking and acting exactly the same while chaos let loose inside of him. It continued even as they drove home and he chattered away with Nica about whatever subject came up, or just simply singling along with the songs on the radio.

They eventually fell into a comfortable silence, and Lance was subjected to his own thoughts whirling around in his head too quickly for him to get a grasp on any of it. He didn’t realize they were home, until Nica had called his name several times.

He blinked a few times at her from where she stood just outside of her open door and she asked dryly, “Are you getting out any time soon?”

Lance let her voice ground him a little, as he tried to soothe the thoughts racing through his mind. Tendrils of coherent thoughts crept to the forefront of his mind.

Keith’s red lips and flushed cheeks, the pink tips of his ears, the red lily petals curling out over his raven black hair, eyes so dark they could be purple yet so bright, glinting and fiery.

“Oh my god,” Lance said, staring at Nica with wide eyes.

Nica frowned at Lance in confusion. “What?”

“I think I’m gay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments are all so sweet! Thank you so much! And as always, thank you for reading this and coming this far! :)


	10. He's scared of rejection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason, I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. Even after countlessly deleting and rewriting, editing and revising, it still ended up sorta messy and just doesn't flow the way I want it to. But for now, I'll leave it as it is as I can't do any better and school has me brain fried x.x

~He’s scared of rejection~

_I’m screwed._

That was the thought that ran through Keith’s mind as he listened to Lance talk about sharks, of all things. He listened to the way his voice spoke quickly, his own words almost overlapping each other in all his enthusiasm. He watched the way Lance’s hands flapped about passionately, and then he looked into his blindingly bright eyes…

Sharks. It was unexpected, but also—not.

Lance’s broad shoulders and sun-kissed skin were telling of many days spent swimming at a sunny beach. He often alluded to the beaches back in Cuba. Although he didn’t live there long as a child, his family often visited the rest of his relatives living there during school breaks. Many of Lance’s ramblings that led to Cuba included the ocean (and “beach babes,” annoyingly enough, tended to be mentioned just as often in those ramblings), and how he would spend time in the water until his fingers were all wrinkly and he would have to be dragged out.

It was easy to see with all of Lance’s fondness of the ocean that he would also love the creatures residing in its bodies.

And if that wasn’t enough…

The look in Lance’s expression that night was one Keith feared to interpret.

_“Wow.”_ Just one breathless word set all of Keith’s nerves alight. Even simply remembering his face or the shape of his lips in that moment took Keith’s breath away.

_I’m_ so _screwed._ Keith had thought for a second time.

He might have indulged himself in a lot of physical contact with Lance that day. Lance seemed to return the touches, though Keith later had a sinking feeling it wasn’t as conscious on his part. Despite the fact that Lance had looked at him (or maybe it was directed at the flower?) with awe, Keith also knew Lance tended to get caught up in the heat of the moment so very easily, be it a moment of angry tension or, possibly, sexual tension—though the line between the two was honestly blurring in Keith’s case.

And that was cause to wonder sometimes if maybe his crush on Lance was healthy when he couldn’t decide if he was irritated or horny because of him.

Keith had leant toward Lance with every intention to kiss him. He wasn’t sure if Lance moved too, but at the very least, he didn’t move away. Their foreheads touched. His fingers cautiously brushed Lance’s jaw. Lance still didn’t move away, awestruck. But he didn’t move closer either.

If he did also lean closer to Keith before their foreheads touched, Lance made no other obvious movements and they got stuck in a standstill, because for all Keith’s reckless, act-before-he-thinks attitude, he was still scared of the result.

He wanted _Lance_ to make the move, because Keith…he was scared of rejection. And Lance looked like he was easily swept up in the moment—in the _moments._ They’ve been happening a lot, that shift in the mood, and the staring, and then the interruption that saved them from doing anything they’d probably regret.

The distance between them remained, other than the light press of his bangs against Lance’s forehead. And Keith waited.

Three long seconds dragged by. Four… Five…

Keith counted down the seconds as Lance remained frozen. Where time didn’t seem to be affecting Lance, each second was nicking itself on Keith’s insides.

When Lance didn’t kiss him or make _any_ move that indicated anything at all to Keith by the 30-second mark, he felt the small hope he’d been harboring begin to disintegrate.

By 40 seconds, Keith wondered if they were having a staring contest.

By 50 seconds, Keith decided he wasn’t hoping for Lance didn’t kiss him or whatever, but he should do _something_ before they reach a minute, maybe at least _explain what the hell they were doing._

But they reached 60 seconds, and he decided…he _knew_ they had been at this staring contest too long and he was hoping for something where he knew nothing was going to happen.

“You should finish your homework.” Keith broke the moment with a casual remark.

And then he pulled away from Lance completely, fighting tooth and nail to keep his face blank until he could rein in the current of emotions whirling inside.

Of course it could never be that easy, because life hates him or something.

~+++~

After his bisexual awakening—yes, not gay, _bisexual_ (Lance settled for that term after a very strange sort of therapy session with his older sister)—Lance began to realize how he may have been a _bit_ in denial with everything he felt regarding Keith.

Now that he knew he was attracted to brooding pretty boys named Keith, he had to dig up and face every shoved, stomped, and buried thought head-on instead of running away from them.

But before he could tackle his new looming problem, he had another problem he needed to resolve, one he had let drag on for far too long.

“Hey, Pidge,” Lance greeted, a little hesitantly.

Pidge and Hunk startled at Lance’s voice, looking up from whatever they’d been reading on her phone.

“Lance!” both of them exclaimed, jumping up from their seats and all but tackling him into a group hug, which felt more like Hunk choke holding him and Pidge squeezed in the middle.

“Whoa, miss me that much?” Lance joked.

They both let go and Pidge immediately launched into what seemed like a long essay of an apology, so Lance stopped her and said, “I know what you want to say, I did read all your texts, and I do still want to have a long talk later, but for now, let’s just get through our classes today.”

Pidge pressed her lips tight together and nodded aggressively.

Keith entered the classroom at what Lance was learning to be his usual time. Keith was very prompt about when he arrived to class whether he was aware of it or not. Lance could always guess right about when Keith would be entering class now.

Keith immediately met Lance’s gaze as he entered the room, looking pleasantly surprised to see him sitting with Hunk and Pidge again. Lance smiled warmly at Keith, who returned the look before sitting in his seat in front of him.

As usual, he pulled out his textbook and began to read. The nerd. No wonder he’s one of the top students of their year.

Lance turned to Hunk and Pidge, ready to make conversation only to see them staring at him, dumbstruck.

Lance’s smile slipped off his face and he regarded them defensively. “What?”

“Uhh, is it just me, or have you gotten waay closer to Keith in the few days we’ve been apart?” Hunk asked.

“Pffft, we all know I’m irresistible,” Lance snorted, brushing off Hunk’s question with his usual jokes, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

“I’ve been observing you two all wrong,” Pidge said in awe. “Ohhh, this explains why Keith was sitting on your lap…”

Lance felt his face heat up, and he tried to cover it up with nonchalance as he huffed, “You’ve got it _so_ wrong! There’s nothing to observe here.”

“Oh I’ve been so blind,” Pidge went on, smacking her forehead, deaf to Lance’s objections.

“I think you’re still blind. Check your glasses prescription.”

“This changes so, _so_ much.”

“No. It doesn’t. You’re imagining things.”

Pidge said no more, pulling her phone out, thumbs moving at light speed over the screen. Lance felt a twinge of familiar self-deprecation as he wondered what she was typing about him.

Hunk gave Lance a comforting but firm pat on his shoulder. “Scientific research is Pidge’s main way of connecting with the world around her and trying to understand it,” Hunk explained as if he had read Lance’s mind, or maybe he only needed to see his facial expression. “She’s just trying to understand _you_ better.”

Lance looked at his childhood friend. Hunk was the first friend to really stay with Lance all these years and he didn’t leave Lance alone even in the few days he had deliberately ignored him. He always tried to be the voice of reason, to keep the peace, always thinking with his friends’ best interests in heart.

“Thanks for sticking around, Hunk,” Lance said, smiling at him gratefully.

Hunk shrugged, no doubt bashful from his sudden sincerity. “I’m just trying to do whatever I can for my best buds, because I _want_ to be with both of you.”

Hunk pinned Lance with a look, and Lance gave him a watery smile.

“You are an angel,” Lance sighed wistfully, leaning on him. “I’m so sorry for ignoring you. I don’t think I’ll do it ever again. It was a horrible experience. I felt like whole body parts were missing without you two.”

Hunk smiled broadly at Lance, his eyes going misty as he said, “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that!”

***

Lance fell back into his usual routine beside Hunk and Pidge like a puzzle piece clicking back into its rightful place, and the unease he felt with Pidge quickly fell away, leaving only the unease that had to do Keith.

Because where a few pieces of the puzzle slotted together with Hunk and Pidge, Keith upturned all the rest of the puzzle, mixing up Lance’s life in ways he wasn’t sure was good or bad.

He had left Keith well alone all day as he caught up with Hunk and Pidge. And in the classes they had alone together, he somehow felt at a loss with how to interact with Keith, especially when the boy would promptly pull out his textbook or his phone and busy himself with reading, only ever acknowledging Lance when he entered the classroom.

When their last class ended, Lance packed his things in record time so he could catch Keith before he left. Keith looked startled when Lance grabbed his shoulder, but his features quickly smoothed over, and he gave Lance a friendly yet distant smile.

“Hey,” he said casually. “What’s up?”

“Hi,” Lance responded then added belatedly with a grin, “The ceiling.”

Keith rolled his eyes, and Lance realized that was the first familiar thing Keith had done today. He had otherwise been weirdly distant even though he returned Lance’s smiles and said hi whenever they passed each other in the halls.

“Okay,” Keith said a little flatly. “Did you need something from me?”

“Yeah, I was thinking um…” Lance glanced over at Hunk and Pidge who were shooting him confused looks from their seats, “I was wondering if it was okay to bring Hunk and Pidge to the Cafe of Lions.”

Keith stared at Lance in confusion and for a terrifying second, Lance thought Keith was upset, but he just frowned slightly and said, “I don’t own the place. Of course that’s fine. Plus Allura and Coran would jump for joy to have more customers.”

“Oh…cool.” Lance had thought maybe the Cafe of Lions was like a private meeting place between him and Keith, but Keith evidently didn’t think the same.

“We’ve chased away enough customers as is,” Keith said, smirking slightly. The playful smile fell away quickly. “Well, have fun. Tell Allura and Coran I said hi.”

Keith slung his bag strap over his shoulder, but Lance quickly stopped him from leaving again. “Wait! I—also wanted to ask you to come with.”

Keith quirked at eyebrow at Lance, pausing for an inordinate amount of time.

“Are you busy?” Lance practically squeaked.

Keith’s eyes darted away from Lance and he shook his head, turning back to him with a placid smile. Lance decidedly hated that smile.

“No, I’ll go.”

***

Hunk and Pidge took up their usual spots on either side of Lance while Keith lagged behind, following closely enough that Lance couldn’t say he was really lagging behind, but far enough behind that it disturbed him.

The trio occasionally tried talking to Keith, and while he wasn’t curt or rude to any of them, he still managed short answers that ended conversation quickly.

When the cafe was in sight, Keith pulled ahead and Pidge looked on in pleasant surprise. “Hey, I know this place! Matt brought me here a few times to meet with Shiro.”

“Huh, so you guys know it too? I know the owner, Coran,” Hunk said. “I helped with making some of the food items listed in the menu.”

“Holy crow! You both already know this place?!” Lance exclaimed as the four of them entered.

Lance’s loud voice caught the attention of the four at the front. Shiro and Matt were seated at the stools against the counter, Allura and Coran opposite them.

A flurry of all their names were said at the same time, and suddenly the cafe was bustling with noise and familiarity.

“Keith!” Allura and Shiro said in sync.

“Shiro? Don’t you have class?”

“MATT!”

“PIDGEON!”

“Hunk, it’s so good to see you again!”

“Coran, it’s been too long!”

The two groups joined together seamlessly except for Lance who watched it happen, hit with a feeling of exclusion as the six interacted easily.

But Shiro soon noticed Lance and knocked him out of his negative spiral with a strong pat on his shoulder. “Lance, good to see you again today.”

Lance came back to himself and shook off the feeling of exclusion. He had been sucked right into the group, and he was comfortable talking to all of them. What was he feeling excluded for?

Matt was explaining in response to Keith’s question, “Our class was cancelled today so Shiro and I came here. What a stroke of good luck to see you all here at the same time!”

“Before you all forget, note I’ve a business to run first and foremost,” Allura said. “After you decide your orders we may all talk away.”

Lance and Keith spoke over each other. “Just food goo,” from Keith and “I’ll have food goo, please and thank you!” from Lance.

Allura gave them an affirmative smile, moving to the register, then asked, “Which of you are paying?”

Lance and Keith both stepped forward. “I am.”

Allura raised an eyebrow.

“I’m the one who asked you here, so I should pay,” Lance said, turning to Keith.

“By that logic you’d have to pay for Hunk and Pidge too,” Keith pointed out. “And you paid last time.”

“No, I—oh right. But then you paid for the Thai tea also last time, so it’s back to my turn!”

“Oh, so we’re on a turn system now?”

“No, it was just whoever beat the other to the punch, right? I’m pretty sure I spoke up first.”

“We spoke at the same time!”

“Nooo I feel like I was first.”

“You were just loud. How did we decide it last time? Last one’s a rotten egg right? And who got here first? I did. I’m paying.”

“Waait wait wait, I’m confused. Did I miss something?” Hunk interjected.

“I feel like maybe we should stay out of this,” Pidge said, nudging Hunk.

Keith and Lance only spared them a look then they both turned back to each other and insisted, “I’m paying!”

“You could split the bill, too,” Allura suggested, exasperated. “Or pay for your own—“

“Here, the one getting the more food should pay. Allura, I also want that raspberry scone,” Keith declared. He snuck a look at Lance, which wasn’t sneaky at all since Lance was looking right back at him, and added, “And the blueberry one too.”

“You just voided yourself!” Lance exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at him.

“No I didn’t. I ordered three things. You just have the one.”

“You ordered the blueberry for me, so it counted as my order! Two for two! Allura, I also want Thai tea. Ha!”

“Well, I also want Thai tea!”

“You can’t just add to your order!”

“You just did!”

“Oh my fucking—just do a round of rock-paper-scissors and get it over with!” Pidge groaned.

Lance and Keith paused at the fair suggestion and then they were both shouting, “ROCK PAPER SCISSORS!” Lance added the “SHOOT” but Keith had already revealed rock and Lance automatically went to paper on his last strike.

“You—You just cheated!” Keith’s voice cracked as he accused Lance.

“No, I landed at the right time! Everyone knows you go on ‘shoot’ not ‘scissors’!”

“I’ve always done it on ‘scissors’! Who the fuck added the ‘shoot’?”

“Okay, that’s it,” Shiro’s authoritative tone kicked in as he got between Keith and Lance. “ _I’m_ paying.”

Lance and Keith shut their mouths and nodded obediently under Shiro’s stern gaze, while Pidge and Hunk snickered from behind.

The whole group was alive with chatter, and as Lance interacted with his two best friends again, he realized that he had never been mad at Pidge. He had been hurt sure, felt betrayed even, but he had only been mad at himself in the end.

And maybe that said something about his self-esteem, or self-forgiveness or whatever, but right now, just for the moment, he decided, it wasn’t the time to dwell on that. He found his eyes constantly wandering over to Keith and added sternly, nor was it the time to have a crisis over Keith, or gnaw his lip over Keith’s slightly off-kilter attitude.

He was with Hunk and Pidge again, laughing at jokes that made others groan. Pidge’s family was here and Keith’s family was here, and Lance didn’t know them very well, not yet anyway, but they made him feel whole.

And Keith was here, bickering with him as per usual. Strange as it was, Lance knew he could rely on this always being the norm between them no matter how else their relationship might change.

Lance briefly remembered the touch of Keith’s forehead against his and he remembered how much the color red complemented his light skin and dark hair.

His rival. His friend. And _maybe_ something more.

~+++~

For all that Keith had decided literally the day before, Lance made it hard for him to keep true to his word. Lance’s touches always lingered, whether he was patting or shaking his shoulder to get his attention, grabbing his elbow to stop him from leaving, or even when they walked side by side and Lance’s hand brushed Keith’s. His touch always seemed to stay a second too long before he pulled away, eyes trained on him a bit too intently before he looked elsewhere.

Keith did his best to ignore it, because it was nothing but baffling, and he couldn’t be sure if he was projecting wishful thinking on all of Lance’s actions, or if Lance was actually doing it consciously. Keith pulled up new theory posts, or reread old ones, focused on reading his textbooks or, when he couldn’t concentrate on what he was reading, training his eyes on a single word or picture in front of him.

Sometimes Keith lost himself in looking at Lance, at his eyes, his pointed nose, his grinning mouth, his animated body movement. He often had to school his expression back into careful nonchalance to stop all his feelings from spilling out through his facial features alone.

Even after properly making up with Pidge and Hunk, Lance continued to hang around Keith often, contrary to Keith’s expectations. Almost every day after school, Lance asked him to come along with the trio to the Cafe of Lions. As much as he was now always hanging around the three, he wasn’t entirely close with them yet, mostly defaulting to arguments with Lance when he was with them.

The only time Keith could manage to interact with Lance normally was when they bickered. Keith could fall back into their rivalry seamlessly, so he started little arguments often for the first few days following his resolution to be just friends.

At the cafe, they always fought over who would pay, but even when they didn’t explicitly order food goo, Allura and Coran always served them each some alongside whatever they ordered—they had somehow gotten Hunk and Pidge hooked on the pudding too—without charge.

After long chatter, Lance always insisted on walking with Keith back to his house and vice versa. Some days, when Shiro was home early, he would invite Lance in and they would all chat away or study in the living room. Other days Keith was invited into Lance’s home.

Before he knew it, they fell into a rhythm and Keith stopped thinking so much about their actions, accepting things as they happened. His friendship blossomed easily with Pidge once she caught him reading posts from one of her favorite blogs. She was as passionate about conspiracy theories as Keith and they were quick friends from then on.

It became the new normal that Lance should be on his right side, while Pidge was on his other side, and Hunk on Lance’s other side, or if they were in the school halls, he and Lance paired off and Pidge and Hunk would walk either in front of or behind them. Lance always stayed close enough they they could feel each other’s warmth, shoulder touching, backs of their hands brushing.

Even when they argued loudly for all to hear about what type of chocolate was the best or whether Keith’s hair was really a mullet or not, they always stayed close as if in private conversation.

Sometimes Lance grabbed Keith’s hand. Like if they spent too long talking and class was going to start soon, he would shout a warning to all four of them, hand easily slipping into Keith’s before they all took off running to make it to class on time. Other times, the reason he grabbed his hand was…questionable, but with the onset of winter, Keith excused all of their closeness as just their way of fighting off the cold.

And so with strange feelings and stranger friendships, time passed as peacefully as it could be among the lively group toward October.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this far! <3


	11. He did not want to be alone

~He did not want to be alone~

“Keith’s birthday is on the 23rd?” Lance all but screeched.

Hunk winced at the volume of Lance’s voice while Pidge took it calmly, obviously having expected this reaction.

“That’s in like, 3 days!” Lance exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say something sooner, Pidge? We have to go find presents!”

“Calm down. That’s why I’m telling you both now. I only just learned it too,” Pidge huffed, crossing her arms. “Shiro told me that Keith always wants to be alone on his birthday, and that he apparently doesn’t like receiving birthday presents either. We have to be especially careful around him on Tuesday.”

“No way! Who likes to be alone on their birthday?!” Lance exclaimed indignantly. “Man, I can’t believe Keith didn’t tell us anything about his birthday coming up.”

“Whether he likes it or not, it’s what he does on his birthday. I’m assuming he has a reason for not bringing it up,” Pidge said, expression softening into one less irritated and more concerned. “Shiro didn’t give me any details. He just said we should be a bit more careful not to upset Keith on his birthday.”

“Aw, but he doesn’t even want presents?” Lance asked. “He should at least be happy with presents, right?”

Pidge shrugged helplessly. “Just gonna repeat what I’ve already told you. He doesn’t celebrate his birthday. He spends it alone in his room every year, according to Shiro.”

“I guess it’s something personal,” Hunk said.

Lance frowned thoughtfully. Despite all he knew about Keith, he couldn’t fathom Keith’s attitude toward his own birthday. It wasn’t just curiosity that made Lance continue to question Pidge even though she could only parrot what Shiro told her and make guesswork from there about Keith.

Lance just wanted to know _more_ about Keith. He wanted to know why Keith would isolate himself on his birthday, and he wanted to know how he could help.

But he could do nothing sitting on the floor of Pidge’s messy room. The three of them solemnly accepted they’d just have to treat Keith with more sensitivity come Tuesday.

***

Keith was fairly quiet on Monday, but he usually sort of was when Lance wasn’t riling him up. The trio’s current stiff attitude around him probably wasn’t helping the situation either. Still, Keith was a bit more lost in thought than usual, not even noticing the way the three of them tiptoed around him.

Only by the end of the day as Lance debated whether it’d be okay to invite him out with them did Keith notice their uncertain demeanors.

“What’s up with you guys? Are we going to Cafe of Lions or what?” Keith asked, a bit of sharpness returning to his eyes as he looked at them in confusion.

Lance wasn’t even sure what he was saying as they all scrambled to make a reasonable excuse for their badly veiled concern, all their words overlapping and spoken too quickly to even understand. Distracted as he was, their suspicious behavior only made Keith shrug a little and he said, “Well, I’m assuming that meant we _are_ still going to the cafe. Let’s go.”

Shiro and Matt were at their usual seats by the counter talking to Allura and Coran when the four arrived. Their sights all honed in on Keith the moment the door chimed, alerting them of the group’s presence. Keith didn’t seem to notice. He was spacing out again.

They all ordered their usuals. Allura and Coran insisted it was on the house today, and Lance could tell Keith was confused but he just shrugged it off and continued to dazedly look out the window.

He didn’t look particularly gloomy in Lance’s opinion—though he was obviously distracted—but everyone was treating him carefully as if he were. Lance was also acting the same, simply because he wasn’t sure what to make of Keith’s attitude. He couldn’t tell if the boy really did need his time alone, since everyone needed time alone sometimes, even Lance, and maybe Keith just happened to like his time alone around his birthday.

Keith was half-finished with his plate of food goo when he decided he should go home. Shiro offered to drive him home, but Keith waved him off, saying, “Thanks, Shiro, but I feel like going for a walk.” Then much to Lance’s surprise, Keith turned to address him, “Do you wanna come with?”

Lance shot up so fast, his chair toppled back. He swiveled around and scrambled to put the chair back to rights before turning back to Keith and covering his fluster with a hopefully more charming smile. “Yeah, sounds like a plan.”

Keith dug his chin into his scarf and paused for barely a second before reaching out to tug Lance by the arm out the open door, chilly air hitting them a second later. Lance could have sworn Keith had considered his hand before going for his arm. He gave a distracted wave to their friends as he followed Keith out.

Keith’s hand slid down from his elbow to his wrist and Lance became heavily conscious of the touch burning through the chill of his exposed wrist right under his knitted gloves. The almost touch of hands initiated by Keith had Lance falling apart more than any other time Lance had impulsively grabbed Keith’s hand before. Unaware of the boy going weak-kneed next to him, Keith continued to walk, uninclined to say anything as he stared off into the distant horizon, where the sun’s last rays poked out from behind buildings and trees.

The walk brought Lance back to the day this not-quite friendship started between them. Walking Keith’s bike. Keith’s hands occupied by a bouquet of lilies. Keith’s face guarded, yet vulnerable.

Just as the memory came to him, they were stopping in front of the same flower shop Lance had spotted Keith entering that day. Lance tensed a little as Keith led them inside, and the employee greeted them good-naturedly.

Lance easily spotted the crowd of white lilies nearby and glanced at Keith to see his eyes catch on them too. Keith marched on toward them and picked out a singular lily for purchase, never letting go of Lance’s wrist the whole time.

“Keith?” Lance said cautiously when they were on their way.

“Lance, would your family be okay with you being out late on a school night?” Keith asked, finally looking at him.

Lance nodded.

“Will you stay with me…just for today?” Keith asked uncertainly, his voice cracking—the first sign of upset.

“Of course,” Lance answered immediately, pulling his wrist away so he could properly grab Keith’s hand.

Keith’s grip on Lance’s palm tightened as he turned away quickly. He led the way down a path cutting through thin trees, branches bared for the coming winter. He brought Lance to an unfamiliar hill, surrounded by shrubbery and forest on one side, overlooking the crowded buildings of their town a good distance away. A large tree grew at the top of the hill, lonesome and looming in the dusk.

Krolia Kogane was etched into it bordered with a misshapen heart.

Keith finally let go of Lance to kneel in front of the thick tree trunk. Lance knelt next to him, watching Keith’s face go through a mess of complicated emotions, holding the singular lily tight.

A sense of deja vu swept over Lance, of them in front of a gravestone, and Lance rambling on. He had always wondered if it had been insensitive of him to speak up like that back then, but Keith had looked frustrated, mouth pressed thin like he wanted to break the silence but didn’t know how, so Lance decided to do it for him.

Lance gauged Keith now, taking in his pensive expression. Questions and comments filled his mind, but he, in what he believed to be one of his wiser moments, kept silent to let Keith process his thoughts.

“I mentioned before that I was orphaned at a young age,” Keith said eventually, looking sideways at Lance. “My dad died when I was nine. My mom died earlier, right after giving birth to me.”

Keith’s hand was clenched tight around the lily stem in his lap, his thumb rubbing against his knuckle restlessly. Lance placed his hand over Keith’s, experimentally stroking over his whitened knuckles in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. Keith’s fidgeting calmed down and his fist loosened slightly, so Lance continued doing it.

“I never knew her because of that, but my dad always told me about how incredible she was…how strong she was, and how much she loved me even though I wasn’t born yet. She gave her life for mine. I don’t remember much of his stories since I was young, but I do remember when he brought me here and told me this was where he proposed to her. She scratched that into the tree soon after accepting.”

Lance observed the tree trunk again, the marks left behind by Keith’s mother. They had a nice view over the city and if the sun was still setting, he could imagine it’d be quite a view. Now though, the sun was almost gone and the last rays hidden behind clouds, casting a dim gray over them. So he imagined the scene playing out before them on a bright starlit night instead. He imagined faceless figures in place of Keith’s parents, his father on one knee, his mother happily accepting, hugging, examining the ring against the stars, cementing the memory into the bottom of the tree trunk.

“And you’re okay with me being here?” Lance asked. “It seems like such an important place. I didn’t even bring anything.”

Keith leaned against Lance’s shoulder and snorted, “Sometimes just having someone with you is enough, right?” He looked down and went on more quietly, “I’m okay with it. I just want you here.”

Lance felt his face begin to warm despite the cold biting his cheeks. Keith didn’t notice, extricating his hand from under Lance’s to offer the lily, but he hesitated to place the lily down. Lance looked at him questioningly.

After Keith placed it down, he mumbled to himself, “I’ll have to come back later when the flower wilts.”

“You’ve never given any before?” Lance asked.

“I’ve never come here at all, except years ago with my dad,” Keith answered. “It didn’t feel right to come here alone.”

Keith intertwined his fingers with Lance’s. Lance noted with slight amusement that Keith was still wearing his fingerless gloves despite his chilled fingers.

“I dunno why it feels right now,” Keith murmured, staring down at their joined hands. He laughed a little. “I wasn’t sure I remembered the way here.”

They moved into more comfortable sitting positions, leaning against each other and watching as the last light left the sky. 

“My mom was part of a strict family, the Marmoras,” Keith said, breaking the silence after a while. “They’re close friends and business associates with the Shiroganes.”

Lance glanced at Keith who continued to stare at his mother’s name.

Keith then glanced quickly his way and added, “She wasn’t buried here, by the way. Her grave is somewhere else, wherever her family had her buried, probably far from here, so my dad and I always came here instead in memory of her.

“Mom’s family didn’t approve of my dad, but she left them to be with him. Even when times were tough and they said they’d take her back if she left my dad, she didn’t, especially because by that time, she was pregnant with me.”

“Did they ever know about you?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded. “After she passed away, they came to take her away for proper burial away from this town, and that was when they learned about me, but they left me in my dad’s custody. After my dad died though, I’m pretty sure they still didn’t want anything to do with me. The Shiroganes decided to take me in in their stead, but it took a year before all the decisions were made. In the meantime I moved around a lot between foster families.”

Keith shrugged with forced nonchalance. Lance let go of Keith’s hand so he could wrap an arm around him, tight and secure. Keith’s careful expression broke down at the touch, and he leaned further into Lance who brought up his other arm to properly embrace Keith’s faintly trembling body.

“Whenever my birthday comes around, I just—I remember it’s the same day my mom died, and I remember my dad…I was never sure if my dad would rather be mourning when we celebrated my birthday, but he’d just—smile and he’d tell me he was glad I was born. But after he…after he was gone too, no one wanted me, no one—needed me.”

Keith’s voice was shaking and he had to pause, his throat working to swallow.

“Shiro…he…cared for me, but he also—almost—“

He tried and failed to choke back a sob, ducking his head down and into the space where Lance’s neck met shoulder. Lance felt wetness there, and he could feel Keith blinking rapidly, eyelashes fluttering and tickling against the side of his neck as he held Keith tighter, carding his fingers through thick, black hair, comforting him as best he could.

Lance tried to imagine being in Keith’s shoes, though he couldn’t even begin to understand what it felt like, what _any_ of it felt like. But he did know one thing.

“None of it is your fault, Keith,” Lance said with a fierceness that left no room for doubt.

He remembered the way Keith had barely registered anything happening around him today, his head lost in the clouds, unaffected and unaware.

Lance kept a firm hold of Keith, grounding him to the earth as if in the fear of Keith floating away if left unanchored. Keith broke down further, muffling sobs into Lance’s neck, clinging desperately to his back as if he feared the same.

They stayed like that long enough for a few stars to come out, visible between breaks in the clouds. Keith remained a solid warmth in Lance’s arms, his poorly stifled distress eventually tapering off into occasional sniffles and hiccups. Lance’s legs were stiff and his fingers practically frozen, but he didn’t dare move, not until Keith himself finally let go of Lance and withdrew from the circle of his arms. Even then, Lance didn’t move much, his hand came to rest on the back of Keith’s neck and the other on his shoulder. He took in Keith’s state once the other boy was back in view.

He should’ve found it unattractive, the blotches of red from both the cold and tears marring Keith’s skin, the swollen and red-rimmed eyes, the sniffling. But a tightness in Lance’s chest told him he thought otherwise.

The moonlight broke through the clouds and painted Keith’s already pale skin silver, reflecting off the wetness of his long dark lashes, and in the dim light, his eyes seemed to glitter purple. He looked ethereal.

Which only made Lance want to grab him again just to make sure he was still there, solid and warm and real.

“Sorry,” Keith mumbled, his voice rough. He cast his gaze down, not meeting Lance’s as he tried to pull further away.

Lance’s hold on the back of his neck stopped him though and he moved on impulse, bringing their foreheads together. “It’s okay.”

His lips pressed against Keith’s damp cheek right by his eye, and when he pulled away, Keith looked at him with an odd expression. Instead of asking (Lance wouldn’t have known how to answer for his actions anyway), Keith huffed out a tired laugh and asked, “What time is it?”

They both pulled out their phones in sync. It was almost eight.

“We should go. I’ll walk with you to your house tonight,” Lance said, helping Keith up.

A thrill went through Lance when Keith didn’t let go of his hand after getting up. It was then that Lance became aware of the bare remnants of saltiness left on his lips. His brain finally caught up with him and rather than blaring like a siren as per the usual when it came to thoughts related to Keith, this thought drifted in like a soft whisper: He kissed Keith.

Lance glanced at Keith’s lips while the boy wiped his tear-stained cheeks against his sleeve. He briefly entertained the thought of dropping a kiss on all the red on Keith’s face, on the tip of his nose, the splotches on his cheeks, on his red-bitten lips… Then dark eyes were meeting his and a sudden swell of panic and doubt filled Lance’s chest, making him swivel his whole body away just to avoid Keith’s gaze. 

Keith’s hand remained in his though and Keith murmured, “I’m okay now. Let’s go.”

Lance kept his face carefully out of sight so Keith wouldn’t see his grimace as they walked. He had been concerned, but that wasn’t the reason he had been eyeing Keith just then.

They fell into quiet conversation as they walked back. Keith talked about his life, Lance occasionally commenting. Sometimes they fell into their bickering, but it was lighter and dropped away easily to more conversation instead of the other way around.

“Did I ever tell you about the car accident Shiro was in?” Keith asked at some point.

“No, but Pidge sorta told me about it a while back so, uh, sorry about that…I mean, the whole, digging into your personal life.”

Keith shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a secret anyways. And Pidge probably knew that too. Shiro...he didn’t want it to be a secret. He wanted to acknowledge that it happened rather than ignore it.” Keith’s lips quirked up into a smile. “Anyways, when you meet Shiro it’s sorta obvious by the arm and the scar that he was in some sort of incident, so it’s not like the questions can be avoided.”

“That’s true,” Lance agreed, nodding thoughtfully.

“You know I’ve made up crazy stories about how he got those inflictions,” Keith grinned. Lance’s breath shortened abruptly, leaving him a bit winded but he managed to respond with a toothy grin of his own when Keith’s words registered.

Keith proceeded to tell Lance about how Shiro was abducted by aliens during pilot training in which they forced him to fight in some sort of battle arena and that’s how he got his scars and his muscles (in truth, Shiro just liked to work out in the mornings after sending Keith off to school, which Keith reluctantly explained when Lance asked), and the aliens also experimented on Shiro, taking his arm and replacing it with alien tech.

“In summary, Shiro is part alien,” Keith finished.

Lance snorted, unable to stifle his laughter at Keith’s dorkiness. “Look at you go, Mr. Sci-fi Writer. I didn’t know you had it in you to be this funny!”

Keith smacked Lance, but Lance continued undeterred with a laugh. “Are you sure _you_ weren’t the one kidnapped and then replaced with a cooler clone of yourself?”

“Shut it,” Keith huffed to the side, his cheeks coloring.

“No, I’m serious,” Lance spoke softer and Keith met his gaze. “It’s cool. Tell me more.”

Keith bit back a poorly concealed smile. “I didn’t really have anything better than the aliens idea.”

Lance grinned. “I guess I’ll take over then! Or actually, let’s make up something together.”

Their gait had slowed considerably as they talked, as if to extend their time together. Well, that was Lance’s reason. He hoped Keith slowed down to a slow stroll on purpose too.

When they reached Keith’s house, Lance walked him right up to his door. Keith stepped into his house, and Lance wondered how to say goodbye. He really didn’t want to even though they’d see each other tomorrow morning at school.

In the end he didn’t have to say goodbye because Keith turned to Lance and asked, “Would you…like to come in? I know it’s a little late for dinner, but it’s not good to _not_ eat dinner, so…”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll let my family know!” Lance said, maybe a bit too eagerly. He set to work doing just that, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

“Keith, you’re back,” Shiro said as he walked down the stairs. He then spotted Lance. “And Lance! Have you kids eaten yet?”

Keith rolled his eyes at Shiro as the two of them took off their shoes. “You talk like an old man, Shiro. And no, we were just about to.”

“I can whip up something for you young ’uns real quick,” Shiro said with a broad smile, exaggeratedly jogging down the stairs and ruffling Keith’s hair as he passed.

Keith pushed him away with a huff of annoyance. Lance snickered, setting his backpack down next to the door and following the brothers into their kitchen.

Though it was smaller, cleaner, and much less rambunctious than dinner with Lance’s family, it was still full of warmth and laughter. Shiro thankfully didn’t say anything about Keith’s puffy eyes, and Keith was definitely in a much better mood than earlier today.

When dinner was done with, Keith asked Lance, “Should I help you finish your homework? Since you probably have stuff due tomorrow that I didn’t let you finish.”

“Oh man, would you?” Lance asked hopefully.

And that’s how Lance ended up having to text Nica again to inform his family that he was staying over at Keith’s till late. Nica responded with, “Use protection ;)))” which had Lance blushing right up to the roots of his hair and he shut his phone with an indignant huff.

“I’ll meet you up in my room,” Keith said as Lance picked up his backpack by the door. Lance nodded and went up, but after a moment he realized he’d left his phone by the door also and went to retrieve it. He picked it up from the table and glanced in the kitchen where he could hear quiet murmuring.

Lance trod quietly towards the voices, curious, but stopped when he saw Keith and Shiro hugging. Shiro spoke in a low, comforting tone, a sad smile on his face. Feeling invasive, Lance quickly and quietly made his way back up to Keith’s room to wait for him.

They made quick work of Lance’s homework. With Keith’s help, he had an easy time getting through the harder subjects, while he breezed through other subjects he was pretty good at. Keith was fairly impressed that they finished before midnight, but he also brushed it off as Lance not having much homework today.

“Face it, I’m surprisingly smart,” Lance said, puffing out his chest proudly.

“Alright, you’re surprisingly smart, Lance,” Keith relented easily with a warm smile.

Lance preened.

After all the schoolwork was packed away in his backpack, Lance let out a loud contented sigh and fell back on Keith’s bed next to where the other boy lay on his stomach, reading something on his phone.

“Whatcha reading?” Lance asked.

“Nothing,” Keith responded.

“Ohh, more of those conspiracy theories stuff you and Pidge are obsessed with, huh?” Lance stated more than asked.

“Um, well, usually yes, but no,” Keith said, and Lance didn’t miss the way his cheeks pinkened.

He sat up, interest piqued.

Keith held his phone protectively to his chest and said, “You can’t laugh.”

“I’m more and more interested in what it is you’re looking at,” Lance said, leaning closer.

Keith leaned back, face red, and finally whipped his phone screen toward Lance quickly, as if ripping off a bandage. Lance blinked a few times at the screen, at first not understanding what he was looking at.

Hippos. Keith was on Google images looking at hippos.

Lance couldn’t help it. He burst into laughter, curling up on his side and holding his stomach from the force of it. 

“Lance! I told you you can’t laugh!” Keith shouted, looking tomato-red now as he shoved Lance off his bed.

Lance crashed onto the floor but didn’t really feel it in his fit of uncontrolled laughter. He eventually managed to reign it in, so he wouldn’t get Keith too mad, though a few chuckles escaped him when Keith glared at him.

“So…hippos?” Lance asked a little shakily.

“What,” Keith bit out, no longer meeting Lance’s eyes. “They’re cute, alright. At least I think so.”

“No, I get it. I’m not judging you,” Lance said, biting back another bout of laughter threatening to escape as he climbed back onto the bed beside Keith. “I just didn’t expect it.”

When Keith still wouldn’t look at him, Lance sighed. “C’mon, you’re talking to a 15-year old boy who still has a stuffed animal named Sharkie.”

Keith tilted his head, giving Lance a sidelong look at that. After considering him for a second, Keith finally relaxed, smiling slightly. “Right. That’s pretty funny, now that I think about it.”

Lance smacked him playfully and Keith leaned away, biting his lip as his smile grew. He ended up lying down on his bed, his legs dangling from the side. Lance followed suit, their shoulders pressed together.

“Are you gonna have your sister pick you up?” Keith asked as they stared up at his blank ceiling. Lance briefly thought about buying glow stars for Keith’s birthday gift, since he still had no gift at all for him.

“Yeah,” Lance answered, but didn’t move. “Soon.”

“Better do it now,” Keith said, then he was stifling a yawn. “What time is it?”

Lance’s phone beeped at that moment with a notification he had set earlier. He grinned, rolling onto his side. Keith mirrored him, giving him a questioning look when he saw his wide grin.

“It’s October 23rd!” Lance announced and leaned closer to whisper, “Happy birthday.”

A mix of several emotions crossed Keith’s face, finally settling on a small, soft smile that had Lance forgetting how to breathe. Keith’s eyes were shiny again, and then he was closing them as he bumped their foreheads together, laughing quietly.

“Thank you,” he whispered back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeee I managed to update this just before Keith's birthday ended (in my time zone). Happy birthday Keith! Also I feel bad that I just suddenly stopped updating sorry ><
> 
> This story will be on hiatus until I can find motivation and time, since school has been really taking too much of my brain power.


	12. He gives him butterflies

~He gives him butterflies~

A few days passed since Keith’s birthday. Keith usually spent it holed up in his room since every year his birthday was cause for too many dreary thoughts. This year though, Lance changed that—just like he seemed to be changing everything in Keith’s life—and so Keith _didn’t_ spend a week holed up in his room. He felt almost as he did most days, if a little (a lot) out of it, often getting lost in a cycle of thoughts.

Oh, and Keith now had glow stars lighting up his room in the dark, kind of like a constant reminder of everything brightening Keith’s life now too, courtesy of Lance.

He still didn’t want a birthday party though. On the day of his birthday, Shiro said the group could all set up a last-minute mini birthday celebration at the Cafe of Lions, but he refused.

Keith never celebrated his birthday, but he was never discontent about it. It was just how every year passed. He never felt the need to make anything special out of October 23, not when he already had so much on his mind every year it came around, so he didn’t see why he had to start celebrating now. He just wanted the day to pass peacefully and undisturbed.

Shiro and the rest of his friends were all reluctant to let go of the mini birthday party idea, especially Lance, but to Keith’s relief, they didn’t push it.

To be honest, he didn’t fully trust his friends to leave it alone, half-expecting to come home or arrive at the cafe to a surprise party. But days passed peacefully, just as Keith wished, and he eventually relaxed. He was often lost in thought and full of mixed feelings throughout the remainder of the week but by the time the weekend was over, Keith was back to normal.

Keith was wandering down the hallway of his first class, having arrived early thanks to Shiro dropping him off today, when a body collided against his back and almost tackled him to the ground. They stumbled but he managed to keep his balance, still trying to register what was happening.

Tan, skinny arms wrapped around his neck from behind, hair tickled the side of his neck, and a familiar fruity smell wafted over him.

“Lance!” Keith snapped in annoyance, even as his heart began to pump an erratic beat.

“Keith!” Lance chirped back, undeterred even when Keith shrugged him off and attempted to keep walking.

Lance swung around to Keith’s front, grabbing his shoulders to block him from leaving. Keith scowled at the blinding smile splitting Lance’s face in half. “It is way too early in the morning for you to be this energetic.”

Lance somehow managed to smile wider and said, “Guess what’s happening in two days!”

“Uh, it’ll be Wednesday?” Keith responded flatly.

“Yes aaaand…?” Lance prompted.

“Halloween!” Hunk exclaimed from behind Keith, causing him to startle as he swiveled around, jumping back into Lance’s chest. He felt more than heard the boy behind him chuckle, and he pulled away with a burning face.

Pidge popped out from behind Hunk and asked, “Do you guys know what you’re gonna wear? I’m gonna be a pumpkin.”

Hunk laughed. “I’ve seen her costume. It’s so cute!”

The edge of Pidge’s lips curled up into a mischievous smile and she snickered, “I’ll be able to hide in the pumpkin and disguise as decoration and then pop out and scare people!”

“Oh. Well. That’s less cute,” Hunk said with a frown. “I suddenly regret helping you buy pumpkin decorations.”

Keith snorted, “Careful not to get punched.”

Pidge rolled her eyes and huffed, “I’ll only have to worry that _you’ll_ punch me, Keith. Since I know everyone at the Halloween party would only scream instead of punch me.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at her. Pidge in turn raised an eyebrow at Lance. “I’m guessing Lance forgot to mention the party.”

“He hasn’t mentioned it,” Keith said, now giving Lance a pointed look also.

He crossed his arms defensively and huffed, “I was literally about to tell him!”

Pidge shrugged. “Well, as long as you know now. It’s Wednesday night, 7pm, my house. It’s not like you’ve got anything better to do, right? You don’t look like the type who goes trick-or-treating or anything.”

Keith frowned at her but couldn’t refute. Halloween always coincided with his listlessness every year since it’s so near his birthday. “Yeah, I usually stay home and pass out candy to whoever comes.”

“Well, you’re leaving the bowl on the doorstep this year!” Lance said cheerily. “I usually have to accompany my little siblings for trick-or-treating every year, but Marco doesn’t mind watching over them this year, so even I’ll be able to go to Pidge’s party!”

Keith continued to frown. “How many people will be there?”

Pidge must have noticed the tense line of Keith’s shoulders as she said, “Relax. By party, we meant a small get-together. It’ll be the usual crew. Oh, and maybe one extra person? Allura mentioned something about it, but Shiro started panicking and uh yeah, I don’t really know what’s going on there.”

“They’re both really weird sometimes,” Keith said with a shrug.

“Yeah, do you guys ever catch them having, like, whole conversations through only facial expressions whenever we’re all hanging out?” Hunk asked.

“Well, I know Shiro goes to the cafe often even when we’re not there,” Keith said. “There’s probably a lot they don’t tell us, but it doesn’t bother me. I’d rather my brother’s love life not be on display in front of me.”

“That’s true,” Hunk nodded.

“Back on topic, guys!” Pidge huffed. “I know Hunk and Lance have their costumes, but what about you, Keith?”

“Uh, I don’t have one.”

“Not a problem!” Lance piped up, grinning. “You can borrow one of mine! My mom stores a _ton_ of our stuff in our garage before she can decide what to give away. I swear we still have costumes from back in our elementary days.”

Keith snorted, “I don’t think your kid costumes would fit.”

“C’mon, you get what I mean,” Lance huffed. “Come over today. My siblings and I will find you something within our labyrinth.” Lance wiggled his fingers spookily at Keith.

Keith bit his lip but failed to stop smiling as he pushed Lance’s hands out of his face. Lance only brought his hands back, wiggling more insistently and making spooky noises, coming closer. Keith recognized the tickling assault about to ensue just as Lance launched for attack. He only managed a startled noise before he burst into uncontrollable laughter. The tickling ended as soon as it began though as Lance dodged a punch to the gut from Keith, squeaking as he jumped away.

“Ahhh, I’m sorry!” Lance exclaimed when Keith tackled him to the floor.

“Terrible,” Pidge muttered, observing them unabashedly while Hunk fretted next to her. “You’re both idiots.”

***

Keith rolled onto his back on the floor, holding his book for English up at arms-length. He wasn’t really reading it anymore, eyes glazing over each time he’d tried, but he was determined to get it over with. Next to him, Shiro sat on the couch, typing away at his computer and occasionally sipping a mug coffee.

It was a normal day, same as any other for the brothers. Nothing much happened in Shiro’s day other than studying and sometimes hanging out with— _a friend_. Shiro said “a friend” as if catching himself (he had been doing that a lot more than usual lately) and so Keith assumed he meant he was on a date with Allura or something, otherwise he would’ve just said he was hanging out with Matt. At least, as far as Keith knew, Shiro didn’t have any other close friends other than Matt.

As for Keith, he tended to always have something to say about his day, because every day was most definitely eventful with Lance, Pidge, and Hunk around. Keith eventually gave up on his book and idly talked about his day to Shiro when his older brother took a break.

He was going on about the parkour trick Lance had tried and failed to do today when he noticed Shiro smiling at him. It wasn’t his usual entertained smile. It was fond and familial and weighted enough that Keith paused mid-story and asked, “What?”

Shiro answered, “I’m just glad that Lance makes you happy.”

Keith stared. He heard Shiro’s words, and then he understood what words were said, butpaired with Shiro’s “proud dad” look, they refused to register in his mind with the implications they carried.

He scoffed at him. “What are you talking about? Lance just annoys me more than anything else.”

“Okay, but in a good way, I’m sure,” Shiro said, looking exasperated.

Keith just shrugged, occupying his mouth with a drink.

“So how long have you two dating?”

Keith choked on his drink.

Was he making fun of him? No, Keith could tell he was serious when Shiro only raised an eyebrow and waited patiently for Keith to finish dying.

After copious amounts of sputtering and more choking, he managed to wheeze out, “What?”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “You can’t expect me to keep pretending I’m not seeing you guys all the time, right?”

“What—What do you mean?” Keith gasped out. He thumped at his chest, as if trying to dislodge more liquid he didn’t swallow, but really all the words his brother was throwing at him suddenly were what was currently trying to kill him in place of his drink.

“Holding hands, all the touches, all the _looks_ , paying for each other every time you go out, walking each other home, inviting each other over for dinner—Should I list more?” Shiro asked.

Keith shook his head vigorously. “No. No, it’s really not like that, Shiro. All of that is…it’s just—weird. I don’t know. It just happened.”

Shiro stared at Keith in disbelief. “What? You’re dating on accident?”

“No! I guess? No. We’re not—We’re not dating,” Keith settled on his last statement firmly, even as the small hopeful part of his brain asked, _But are we?_

“So what’s happening today?”

“I’m going over to Lance’s to find a costume for the Halloween party no one told me about.” Keith looked pointedly at Shiro at that then continued, “And then we’ll be coming back here because Lance is making me watch High School Musical. It’s too loud at his house so—Okay, this is _not_ a date! We’re just hanging out as _friends_! Stop looking at me like that.”

Even as he said it, he couldn’t help thinking back to last week when Lance’s lips touched his cheek like it was the most natural thing in the world to kiss another boy’s tears away. And hold his hand. And stroke his hair.

Whatever expression Keith was now making was not helping his case as Shiro was now giving him one of his knowing looks.

“Lance is straight,” Keith said.

Shiro barked out a laugh at that. “I think maybe you should double check with Lance on that one.”

“No, you don’t know how Lance is,” Keith insisted. “He flirts with every girl in sight. You should’ve seen him before when he assumed Allura was single.”

Shiro paused, looking surprised and then frowning, but whether it was because of Keith calling him and Allura out or just him considering Lance, he couldn’t tell.

Eventually he just shrugged. “Heteroflexible?”

Keith scowled at him. “I highly doubt that.”

“Really? Does Lance hold hands with all his friends regularly?” Shiro asked, leaning onto his elbows, chin resting onto clasped hands.

Keith pushed his plate away and crossed his arms petulantly. He then sifted through his memories briefly. “No,” he mumbled, cheeks flushing hot.

“Okay. And what about endearments? Other than the nicknames his friends have everyone call them, does Lance call his friends anything else special?”

“He calls Allura ‘princess’.”

“I call her stuff like that too.”

“No, but you don’t count!”

Shiro frowned.

“ _Lance_ calling Allura ‘princess’, that’s special. He just likes making fun of me with his nicknames for me,” Keith said trying and failing not to pout.

Shiro raised an eyebrow and his lips twitched as he held back a smile. “Do you want to be called ‘princess’?”

“You know what I mean,” Keith huffed. His bottom lip attempted to jut out again but he reeled it in between his teeth, gnawing angrily.

“Stop that, your lip will bleed again,” Shiro scolded.

Keith returned to jutting his lip out unhappily.

“Keith, I’ve heard him call you babe once or twice already when we’re at the cafe, no mockery included,” Shiro snorted. When Keith couldn’t deny it, he leaned back, amused. “And it sounds more like an endearment than teasing to me when he calls you ‘mullet’.”

Keith averted his gaze stubbornly but he doubted he could hide the heat of a blush creeping over his face.

Shiro went on, “Also he _always_ chooses to sit next to you when he could sit beside Pidge or Hunk. He always sits close enough that he’d basically be sitting in your lap if he shifted a bit.”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Keith groaned, burying his face in his hands and muffling his voice. “It’s not like Lance is even aware of it.”

“I dunno about that. Only you could be that oblivious,” Shiro pointed out.

“Clearly you haven’t met Lance.”

“You should have a talk with him, Keith, about what the two of you are exactly, or what either of you want to be,” Shiro suggested gently.

Keith reluctantly looked up at his brother’s serious tone, meeting Shiro’s kind expression. After a brief pause, he nodded. Satisfied with that as a response, Shiro went back to eating his food.

***

It was easier said than done though.

Shiro dropped Keith off at Lance’s house on his way to meet with his ‘friend’. He once again avoided any specifics about this friend and Keith knew he wouldn’t get any answers if he tried to ask. Usually he’d insist on a clear answer, but Keith was distracted with the conversation he needed to bring up with Lance.

“Hey Keith!” Lance greeted cheerily upon opening the door. He grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged him in. “Come on! Veronica and I are already looking through our storage.”

Keith allowed himself to be pulled along to their garage where two large cardboard boxes were open and several clothes scattered about a counter. Veronica stood over one of the boxes, rummaging through clothes.

“Hey,” she said, acknowledging Keith before her eyes fell to their linked hands. Keith didn’t miss the way her lips quirked up at the sight.

Keith nodded back somewhat awkwardly, but Lance hadn’t let go of his hand and Keith didn’t plan to be the first to let go.

The whole looking through costumes affair ended up shorter than Keith expected, Lance and Veronica having already searched through them all before Keith arrived and narrowed their options greatly. They probably would have been quicker about deciding on costumes too, but Lance had been indecisive about whether he wanted to be a werewolf like he had been last year or be a witch again since it had been a few years since he’d last worn the costume, and he was delightedly surprised to find he still fit in it. In the meantime, Veronica sorted through random outfits, holding them up to Keith before immediately rejecting them until she found a vampire cloak and looked between the cloak and Keith approvingly. Still brooding over his two options, Lance jokingly putting the fake ears of the werewolf ears onto Keith, Lance abruptly decided he would be a witch and made Keith take the werewolf costume.

“I was thinking he’d make a good vampire,” Veronica suggested, taking off the ears headband and swiftly draping a cloak around Keith. “Look, the inside of the cloak is red and fits Keith’s whole theme are wearing a lot of black with some red.”

Lance snatched the headband from Veronica and slid them back onto Keith’s hair. “I think he’s more of a werewolf kind of guy.”

“I don’t really mind either—“ Keith started.

“No, vampire is perfect. Look, he’s pale-skinned and looks broody.”

“I know Keith past his looks though and I think werewolf suits him better,” Lance argued.

“‘Past his looks,’ my ass,” Veronica snorted. “You just think the ears are cute on him, you creep.”

Keith felt his face warm and noted Lance’s cheeks also color, his shoulders hunching up defensively as he argued with his sister.

Inevitably though, the siblings turned to Keith and let him be the final verdict on which costume he preferred. 

Keith’s gaze darted between the two staring him down intensely and quite suddenly felt like becoming invisible. He didn’t have a preference honestly, but if he didn’t decide, he had a feeling the argument would never end.

A quiet, hopeful voice in the back of his mind repeated Veronica’s words to him: Lance thinks the ears were cute on him. He shook the voice away and reasoned that the headband kept his hair out of his eyes so it was a matter of convenience when he decided to take Lance’s side.

He voiced this reason to the two when he decided on the werewolf over the vampire, but Veronica’s smirk let him know he was fooling no one.

“God, I can’t believe you’re Team Jacob,” Veronica sighed as she left the garage.

Keith huffed back even though she was gone, “That—That is not the reason. I didn’t choose my costume based on it.” He then turned to Lance and crossed his arms. “I’ve never even read Twilight.”

“I’m not sure I believe you. You’re sounding pretty defensive,” Lance said, an amused smile playing on his lips.

Keith pushed Lance lightly and muttered, “Even if I did read the series, I am not Team Jacob.”

At that, Lance let out a scandalized gasp.

***

After the quick cleanup, Lance had Keith wait in the kitchen where Marco was studying on the dining table while Lance went to retrieve High School Musical. Marco acknowledged Keith, but didn’t try to make small talk, much to his relief. He leaned against a counter, observing the small kitchen idly, listening to the sounds of children running around upstairs. He faintly heard Lance shouting something at them in his native language and smiled softly. Their small home was filled with coziness and warmth, nothing like the usual large emptiness of Keith’s house.

Lance helped fill the silence whenever came over to Keith’s house, always somehow managing to bring some warmth and energy with him. And of course, Shiro was always there to ease the loneliness if Keith wanted to study in his room, or if Shiro wanted company, he could usually find Keith lounging around in the living room.

Lance arrived with three DVDs in hand. Keith’s eyes shot down to them and he asked, “Aren’t we just watching High School Musical?”

Lance grinned at Keith and revealed the other two DVDs. “When I say High School Musical I mean the whole masterful trilogy, thank you for asking!”

Keith boggled at the three cases. Lance snickered at him as he stuffed the DVDs into his backpack and dragged him out the door.

As they were walking, silence falling over them, Keith looked Lance’s way. He looked at ease, his eyes trained somewhat upward at the sky ahead, a small smile on his lips. Keith wondered what he was thinking about.

He let himself steal plenty more glances at the distracted boy. The backs of their hands brushed at some point and Lance turned to meet his gaze, expression open and happy. Keith tensed slightly, abruptly remembering the nerve-wracking conversation he planned to have with Lance at some point today. Now was as perfect a time as any, but instead of going for important discussion like he’d promised himself, he could only stare back at Lance intensely.

Lance’s peaceful expression fell away to puzzlement, sensing Keith’s apprehension. He asked, “Is there something wrong?”

Keith felt his heart jump up into his throat but when he opened his mouth to speak, only a yelp came out as he stumbled over his own feet, but Lance quickly caught his arm and kept him upright.

“Whoa, you alright?” Lance asked, concerned.

“Fine.” Keith quickly pulled away, much too embarrassed to respond better as he stormed ahead.

Lance took longer strides to keep pace, looking lost as he followed after Keith. Their quick pace ended with them arriving at Keith’s house much sooner than expected and Keith slightly out of breath. He really needed to start going to the gym with Shiro again.

Once they were inside, Lance stopped minding Keith’s nervous attitude so much, distracted by his own excitement.

“Alright, let’s set this baby up!” he exclaimed, pulling Keith to the living room. He was practically vibrating with energy. “Oh, you just wait, mullet, once you rewatch these movies with me, you’ll have to change your opinion on them!”

“To be honest, I didn’t even watch the first one,” Keith admitted, leaving Lance to figure out the DVD player.

Lance clicked his tongue. “You gotta stop judging things by the way they look, babe.”

_Babe._

Keith was entirely aware that he was stalling on the things he really needed to say. Once Lance got the movie playing, Keith knew he’d lose his nerve to talk serious topics. Specifically, the nature of their relationship.

“Aha! Here we go!”

“Um, Lance—“

“Yeah, yeah, I got it, Kogane, since you can’t get off your lazy butt,” Lance said, waving Keith off.

All too soon, Lance had the movie going and all that was left was to press play to start it. Lance plopped onto the couch next to Keith, close enough that their shoulders pressed together even though the couch could fit at least three other people comfortably. Keith felt his heart jump right into his throat.

Come to think of it, Lance could’ve invited Hunk and Pidge. The two of them seemed used to pushing time aside to hang out with Lance, but while the four of them did often hang out, there were also a lot of times where Lance invited Keith out and vice versa and Lance wouldn’t bring Pidge or Hunk along.

Would those count as dates then? Does this count as a date too?

“This is the remote to use, right?” Lance asked, reaching up to try said remote.

Yes, it was the right remote and Keith was losing his chance to talk.

Keith lurched forward and grabbed Lance’s outstretched wrist, lowering the remote. Lance laughed nervously at Keith’s violent reaction.

“Uhh, so I’m guessing it’s _not_ the right remote?” Lance asked.

“It is, but I just thought—we can’t watch the movies just yet,” Keith stuttered out.

Lance noticed the seriousness in Keith’s tone and put the remote back down, concern now playing across his face once again.

“What’s wrong?” Lance asked seriously, touching Keith’s arm.

Keith’s chest tightened at the casual affection Lance showered him with. Would this conversation ruin everything? Would they become awkward, unable to return to easy friendship if that ends up being all this is to Lance?

All the words Keith planned for hours dried up in his throat. He turned away from Lance’s worried gaze, facing the TV.

“I’m just hoping you don’t get too upset if I end up not liking these musicals,” Keith said.

Lance laughed, sounding relieved as he relaxed into Keith’s side. “I won’t get upset, _but_ I will pity your poor taste.”

“Are you sure you’re not just biased because of how sentimental you are?” Keith teased.

Lance opened his mouth to argue then paused to think about it. “Hmm, that actually might be part of it.”

Keith let out a huff of amusement, and then he let out a grunt when Lance’s pointy elbow dug into his arm as the other boy reached for the remote and started the movie.

“Quiet down, I’m starting it now,” Lance said, cushioning himself on Keith’s side and stretching his legs across the rest of the couch.

Keith firmly decided he’d talk to Lance after they finished their High School Musical marathon. But their movie-filled evening passed and Lance sighed over the movies, reminiscing about what a bitter freshman he was when he realized high school was in fact not a musical, and Keith only half-listened, stuck in his own head.

Keith was starting to build a record of not keeping to his word. Specifically when it had to do with having talks about what you are to your crush, who holds your hand and kisses your tears and runs his fingers through your hair.

_Maybe we are dating?_

Keith shook the thought away vehemently. Lance would’ve said something, right? Or done something that clearly indicated Keith was his boyfriend, like a kiss…on the lips. Or something.

Keith felt his cheeks heat up just thinking about it. He was so deep in thought, he didn’t realize Lance was trying to get his attention until he had a lapful of the boy. Keith gasped in surprise, getting a whiff of Lance’s cologne—or whatever it was he used—which had an appealing citrus scent to it.

Most boys their year discovering cologne usually smelled disgusting since they practically coated themselves in the stuff, but Lance seemed to have some perfect cologne application technique of having just enough that it wasn’t overwhelming and luring you in to smell more of the fragrance. Or maybe he doesn’t even use cologne. Maybe it’s his shampoo, or maybe it’s one of those face products he mentioned before…

“Whatcha brooding about?” Lance asked, leaning his head back and resting it on Keith’s shoulder. He had to scoot almost all the way off of Keith to be able to get the back of his head to reach Keith’s shoulder.

Lance’s hair tickled the side of Keith’s neck, more of his scent wafting over, and Keith had to suppress shivers.

“Just about how bony your ass is. Get off,” Keith scoffed, pushing Lance lightly.

Lance only laughed and stubbornly stayed put, planting his feet firmly on the floor. “Aww, darling, you were daydreaming about my ass?”

Keith found himself blushing furiously and he shoved Lance off, delighting in the startled squawk he pulled out of the other boy as his face met the carpet floor.

Lance quickly scrambled up back onto the couch beside Keith.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Kogane!” Lance huffed triumphantly, then more seriously, “Am I disturbing you?”

Keith belatedly noticed the space between them increasing as Lance pulled into himself and spoke quickly, “No, it’s not you! Sorry, I just uh, have a lot of homework? And it’s a school night, so I’m…stressed.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Guilt immediately crossed Lance’s face and he got up and said, “Oh man, I’m so sorry! I should’ve suggested a movie marathon on a weekend or something. Agh, damn this was a dumb idea, I’ll just—“

Keith shot up and grabbed Lance’s arm as he was turning away and exclaimed, “No! That’s not it! I wasn’t—It’s not—Look, I just…”

Keith groaned in frustration, and covered his face with one hand. Why was this so hard? He needed to calm down.

After taking a deep breath, Keith finally looked back up at Lance, who looked disconcertingly insecure, completely unlike his usual confident self.

“I really don’t actually have any homework, not any due tomorrow at least,” Keith admitted. “I don’t know why I said that. You should know, I mean, we share the same classes. It’s not school.”

Lance seemed to relax at that, though his worried expression remained. When Keith couldn’t gather the words to speak what had been on his mind all evening, he was both relieved and disappointed when Lance didn’t push him any further, instead suggesting, “I wouldn’t be opposed to staying over and working on homework together. I’ve got my backpack.”

Keith nodded, smiling slightly.

Lance grinned and plopped down onto the floor by his backpack, unzipping it to pull out his school work. Keith sat somewhat nearby, picking up his book that he had left on the table earlier, but he only got through one short chapter before he was once again unable to focus on anything he was reading, so inevitably he found himself looking at Lance again.

The boy seemed just as unable to concentrate on his homework as he was fiddling with a purple sticky note, and a colorful collection of sticky notes littered the floor around him. Keith felt his insides twist in a not-bad way when he realized Lance wasn’t just fiddling with the sticky note but folding it into something.

Lance finished his creation quickly, finishing it off by curling the corners of the wings of the simple butterfly with his pencil. After examining it for a few seconds, Lance glanced over at Keith, meeting his gaze with a grin.

“You could learn this one pretty easily with sticky notes,” Lance said, dropping the butterfly into Keith’s hands.

“Really?” Keith asked, both hopefully and doubtfully.

“Yeah, it’s easy! Easier than the lily, I promise. I just found a random YouTube video on my phone and did it,” Lance reassured, showing said video mutedly playing on his phone.

“And here I thought you were doing your homework,” Keith huffed.

“You know I don’t have the motivation to do my homework unless a deadline is near,” Lance snorted then leaned back onto the couch as he stretched out his legs. “A lot of our teachers really let us have it easy this week. Do you think it’s ‘cause of Halloween?”

“Probably,” Keith said distractedly, curling a wing that was starting to straighten out.

He heard Lance chuckle lightly before the butterfly was plucked out of his hands. He was about to fight for it back, but then he stopped to catch a blue post-it pad tossed his way.

“C’mon, let’s make some butterflies,” Lance said, placing his phone on the table between them, the butterfly tutorial video ready to be replayed.

Lance peeled off a pink sticky note and replayed the video. It was evident Lance didn’t need to replay it to remember how to do it, but he still followed alongside Keith and the video. Keith ended up learning more from Lance than the video, forgoing watching it altogether and having Lance help him instead.

“I don’t know why I suck so much at this,” Keith grumbled when he finished his butterfly.

“No, it looks good!” Lance said encouragingly. “It looks identical to mine, see?”

Keith looked between the two butterflies and saw he was right. He met the other boy’s gaze and saw him beaming back at him. Only then did Keith realize he was grinning too.

“Lemme try again without help,” Keith said, and Lance handed him a purple sticky note without question, peeling off a blue sticky note for himself.

How much time passed, Keith didn’t keep count, but by the time they stopped, they were surrounded by an array of pink, purple, and blue butterflies.

Lance sent some into the air when he stretched out his legs from their criss-cross position.

“I can’t believe we spent an hour just folding paper,” Lance said, but he was laughing.

“It’s only been an hour?” Keith responded in surprise. For the amount they made in that time, he felt like longer had passed.

Lance inched closer to Keith until their knees were touching, scooping up the butterflies in between them. Keith frowned in confusion, but didn’t move as Lance leaned forward with a look of concentration. He watched Lance reach up and place butterflies into his hair.

Once his hand was empty, Lance laughed in delight and Keith felt his heart warm at the sound. “It’s so easy to stick things into your hair!” Lance snickered into his hand. He then scrutinized Keith for a second and nodded approvingly. “Purple suits you too.”

Keith scooped up his own handful and dumped it unceremoniously onto Lance’s head. It tumbled right off, fluttering to the ground like wounded butterflies, one landing in Lance’s waiting hands. Lance fixed one of the curved wings before letting it join the other butterflies in Keith’s hair.

Keith found himself smiling back unconsciously as Lance let out a giggle. He couldn’t be sure if he was imagining the tinge of color on Lance’s cheeks.

“Your hair’s a butterfly nest,” Lance commented giddily.

Keith rolled his eyes, scrambling to come up with a normal response that wasn’t swooning, but Lance continued to speak, challenge now lighting his eyes. “Bet you can’t keep any of the butterflies from falling.”

Keith considered whether to take the bait even has his competitive spirit flared inside. He took a chance, standing up somewhat carefully and when nothing fell from his head he grinned at Lance.

“I bet I could.”

He lost the bet as soon as he started it though as soon as he moved. Although not many fell, a few butterflies fluttered off toward the ground. Lance just laughed and put them back in Keith’s hair.

“I’m sending a picture to Hunk and Pidge,” Lance said, snapping a picture with his phone and tapping on it a few times.

His phone immediately buzzed responses and Keith leaned over to look at his screen. Pidge had sent a ton of laughing emojis and couldn’t stop emphasizing how adorable the whole situation was. Keith couldn’t really find it in himself to get annoyed.

***

When Shiro came home, Keith had been studying on the couch in their downstairs living room, still surrounded by butterflies. Keith finished off the paragraph he was reading before getting up to greet Shiro.

It was later than usual for Shiro to be coming home, but Keith figured he must’ve been at the Cafe of Lions this whole time.

As if aware of Keith’s thoughts, Shiro said, “Sorry I wasn’t home sooner. I got distracted while with a—friend.” Keith noted the slight hesitation, but Shiro was quickly moving on, looking at the state of their living room. “Have you eaten lunch? Or dinner now, Iguess.”

“I ate lunch,” Keith sighed, and Shiro looked at Keith in surprise. “Lance made me,” he added by way of explanation.

Shiro smiled warmly at Keith. “I’m glad your appetite’s returning. Not too full for dinner, are you?”

Keith shook his head and went to the kitchen with Shiro to help prepare food. During this time was always an easy, peaceful silence, something that had never changed even after the accident and something Keith hadn’t thought was possible with anyone but Shiro until Lance came crashing in to prove him wrong all that time ago.

Once they were seated and eating, Keith waited until Shiro was taking a drink from his glass of water to break the silence with, “So who’s this friend you got distracted with?”

Shiro looked about ready to spit out his drink but persevered to swallow it without choking. Keith didn’t bother to hide his smirk as Shiro frowned at him.

“Just a friend from class,” Shiro answered, eyes darting away for a nanosecond.

Keith leaned forward and persisted, “So you stayed at school all this time just to hang out with just a friend from class?”

Shiro’s face finally turned a noticeable pink, and wow, it was nice to have the upper hand for once.

“Yes, a friend from class,” Shiro reaffirmed. He then added quietly, “We became friends last semester.”

This new info left Keith in thought. After his recovery, Shiro had taken some time off of school, only having come back last semester after changing his major to business. He was almost done with school, one more year before graduating with a degree in aviation and aeronautics, but after losing his arm…

Anyway, by the time he was back in school, communication between the two brothers had already become stilted, with Shiro only ever being concerned about Keith and Keith only ever being curt and closed off.

So that meant Shiro’s ‘friend’ he’d been mentioning lately hadn’t been Allura all this time, like Keith had originally assumed. It really was someone Keith didn’t know.

Before Keith could ask, Shiro was quickly changing the subject, so he reluctantly let it go for now.

As with all conversations headed by Keith lately, the subject quickly turned to Lance. Keith recounted the day, about how he learned to fold butterflies and how later they ended up throwing their creations at each other in a butterfly-infested feud. Shiro reacted with his usual mix of amusement and exasperation to all their antics. 

In his excitement, Keith ushered them to put their dishes away and pulled Shiro to the living room, showcasing the blue, purple, and pink butterflies covering the floor and table.

His brother smiled, looking around at the mess with a little bit of disbelief, and Keith quickly assured he’d clean it up soon.

Shiro then asked, “So you and Lance are official now?”

“Wh-What?”

Shiro gave Keith a look then sighed when Keith only stared blankly. “Have you talked to Lance yet?”

“Um.”

Shiro sighed again. “I won’t push you, Keith, but the longer you wait, the more trouble it might end up becoming.” Shiro leaned forward from where he sat on the couch next to Keith, looking at him intently. “Do you like Lance?”

Keith didn’t have to think hard about that. His insides twist pleasantly just at the sound of Lance’s name, and he was sure his face said it all to Shiro. It wasn’t really a question at this point, just confirmation.

“Yeah, I think I really do.” He held up the paper butterflies and gave Shiro a wry smile. “He gives me butterflies.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up so much longer than intended…
> 
> You know, this fic seems to have become my feel-good fic. I like typing it when I’m feeling lighthearted. Although, winter has hit me hard and I have no motivation to do anything at all… Hopefully the feeling will pass soon cuz it’s affecting everything I should be doing.
> 
> ALso, Team Edward or Team Jacob? I’m kidding, I really don’t have an opinion there. I dislike love triangles. I also love musicals, specifically high school musicals (currently).
> 
> ALSO ALSO, Voltron’s gonna end soon! I’m excited yet absolutely terrified and so sad it’s gonna be over.


	13. He looks at him a bit differently

~He looks at him a bit differently~

“Is there such a thing as platonic hand holding?” Shiro repeated in bewilderment.

“Yes, that is what I asked,” Keith said impatiently, crossing his arms.

Shiro raised an eyebrow at Keith. “Are you thinking of a specific pair of people?”

“No. I’m just wondering.”

“So are you thinking two people holding hands while leisurely strolling down the street,fingers entwined, or like one person is dragging the other around through like a crowd?”

Keith stared at Shiro for a second then said, “Yes.”

Shiro put his chopsticks down so he could pinch the bridge of his nose. He finally looked at Keith straight on and said, “As far as I‘m aware, Keith, hand holding is typically not considered platonic.”

“Okay, but what about really close friends,” Keith insisted, leaning onto the table.

Shiro’s eyebrow twitched. “Yes, there are friends out there who casually hold hands, but—look, Keith, if you’re so troubled by this, you really should just ask Lance.”

Keith groaned, burying his face in his hands. “I know, I know. I plan to, but I always get distracted away from the subject. It’s just that…” Keith lifted his face and looked up at Shiro, “things are _really_ nice the way they are right now. Everything’s light and easy with Lance. And Hunk and Pidge too! I just don’t want things to change. I don’t want to ruin our friendship that we only really _just_ got.”

A look of understanding crossed Shiro’s face. “Yeah, I get what you mean,” he said quietly, looking faraway from Keith as he got lost in his thoughts.

After that Shiro immediately stopped with his ‘encouragements’ for Keith to talk to Lance. Though Keith really appreciated it, he was more surprised by the fact that Shiro really seemed to understand.

Shiro drove Keith to school after they finished breakfast and the only nagging Shiro gave Keith was to not pick any fights and then Keith was left on his own.

Admitting he liked Lance out loud for the first time ended up having adverse effects on Keith. It felt so final, like now there really was no turning back.

Shiro didn’t seem like he would push the subject anymore, thankfully. Yesterday, Keith started to freak out right after his admission and so Shiro made him some hot cocoa and let Keith ride out the panic with some needed ranting about Lance and how he really _shouldn’t_ be crushing on Lance because he’s _Lance_ , the boy who annoyed him all of freshman year.

Of course, it wasn’t _only_ Lance picking the fights (Keith once got Lance glued to his seat and it was still one of his more fond memories even though he got suspended because of it), but it was definitely _mostly_ Lance and he was the one who started it too. He never left Keith alone.

And now, well, he _still_ doesn’t leave Keith alone, but it’s much more…more.

Keith had spent the rest of that day carefully avoiding Lance-related topics after he calmed down. Shiro had looked like he had a lot on his own mind, so the two of them sat together in pensive silence for the rest of that evening.

When Keith walked into his first class this morning and saw Lance had arrived before him, he turned around and walked right back out, face blank but internally screaming.

After having a moment to prepare himself to see the object of his affections, Keith managed to enter the classroom, share a smile with Lance that would hopefully dispel the other teen’s confusion, and sit in his seat.

It was then that he realized Lance was not in his usual seat behind him but instead in the seat beside him. It made it hard to ignore him, especially when he kept grinning Keith’s way, ready to talk away at him the moment he was settled in his desk. Keith steadfastly didn’t meet Lance’s gaze, trying to focus on his textbook instead to show he was busy, but he couldn’t concentrate with Lance right there in the edge of his field of view, boring holes into him.

Eventually, the student who usually took the seat next to Keith entered but after what seemed like a silent conversation between the confused student and Lance, he easily gave up his seat to take Lance’s behind Keith.

Keith raised an eyebrow at that then glanced back at Hunk and Pidge. Pidge rolled her eyes while Hunk gave Keith a smile and shrugged. Keith tried again to center his focus on his textbook.

Lance on the other hand was the same as usual—endlessly energetic, frustratingly charming in the weirdest ways, and just _Lance_. His eyes were continually drawn to the boy and he ended up giving in and looking at Lance, letting him talk on about his morning.

Keith felt his face melting into a soppy expression and quickly righted himself into something more neutral, trying to respond accordingly to whatever Lance was saying about cream cheese.

“I mean it’s so weird right? Cheese is like a savory thing and you eat it with savory foods! But then comes along this—this sweet cheese! And _cakes_ are made out of the stuff and it blows my mind how _good_ they are!” 

“Oh wow.”

“The first time I heard of cheesecakes I was like ‘that sounds so gross, who would eat that?’ And then someone in my class had brought these yummy-looking squares and that was the first time I tasted cheesecake and I was demanding to know what the dessert was—Can you imagine my reaction when I realized the heavenly creation was _cheese_?”

“Yeah.”

Despite Keith’s best efforts to act normal to Lance’s passionate rant, the other boy still somehow managed to notice something was off with Keith.

“Are you listening to me, Keith?” Lance asked, leaning far too close to Keith’s face to get his attention.

_Shiro knows I like you! Matt and Pidge probably know now and then Hunk will know from Pidge and soon_ you _will know and I’ll DIE!_ a voice screamed in Keith’s head.

“No, I’m fine,” Keith answered.

Lance raised an eyebrow and Keith realized he didn’t quite register the question Lance had asked him and had answered to the concerned tone instead.

At that moment Pidge entered the classroom and Keith unconsciously held his breath as Pidge spotted them and approached.

“Hey guys,” she said tiredly, sitting down in her usual seat behind them.

“Morning,” Lance greeted back, smiling brightly at her. “I had cheesecake this morning.”

“Ugh, is that why you’re so upbeat this early?” Pidge muttered, resting her head in her arms.

Pidge didn’t seem particularly interested in observing Keith nor was she shooting him any significant looks or other signs, so Keith allowed himself a breath of relief. If Pidge didn’t know, it was safe to assume only Shiro was aware of Keith’s feelings then.

Keith returned from his thoughts at the feeling of his hand being squeezed briefly and saw it was Lance’s hand covering his. He looked up at Lance who gave him a small smile. Pidge saw it, but still made no reaction. Keith relaxed further, returning the squeeze to Lance’s hand.

***

As they pulled up to Pidge’s house, Keith drummed his fingers against the windowpane, trying not to move too much or else look like an excited little kid next to Shiro, who was looking pensive and serious. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he really was excited for tonight. It would be his first Halloween party surrounded by friends. He might even go so far as to call them family.

Christmas lights decorated the exterior of the house, but through the windows, Keith could see pumpkins (so many pumpkins), cobwebs, and spooky decor awash in Halloween colors, contrasting the interior from the merry exterior. The mix of holidays before him vaguely reminded Keith of _The Nightmare Before Christmas_.

Pidge and Matt both spotted them through the windows from where they sat on the couch. They waved then got up to let them in.

“Welcome to my humble abode!” Matt grinned at the brothers, bowing as he backed away to let them in. “I know you’ve visited a few times before, Shiro, but it’s a first for you, isn’t it, Keith?”

Keith nodded and looked around, impressed by the amount of pumpkins of all sizes surrounding the place. True to her word, Pidge was in a pumpkin costume identical to the pumpkins sitting around.

“Check this out!” Pidge exclaimed, running next to a pumpkin then proceeded to squat down and duck her head into her costume where her pumpkin stem hat fit neatly into the top.

“That looks…really weird,” Keith commented. “You know your arms and legs are still visible right?”

Pidge sprouted back up and huffed, “I’m working on it.”

Keith watched as Pidge had Matt help her hide inside her costume, but most of Keith’s attention turned to Shiro as his brother made a beeline for Allura. Allura, adorned in a regal dress and crown fit for a queen, chatted idly with a pirate-themed Hunk. Shiro grabbed her arm and began whispering urgently at her, blocking Hunk out of the conversation.

Keith wandered over and Hunk gratefully met with him halfway, tipping his pirate hat toward him in greeting. “Ahoy!”

“Hey, Hunk. They’re having another one they’re private conversations, aren’t they?” Keith remarked.

“Yup. Immediately forgot I was there, the both of them,” Hunk said, shrugging. He then gestured at Keith. “Interesting choice of costume, by the way.”

Keith looked down at his werewolf getup and said, “It was more Lance’s idea than mine. You look pretty cool.”

Hunk puffed out his chest proudly. “Argh, matey! Plus side—if I get tired of wearing this hat, I still look like a pirate with my bandana.”

Hunk lifted the hat for a second, revealing his usual orange bandana tied around his head.

“Nice.”

Keith’s eyes wandered back to Shiro and Allura, half-listening as Hunk continued to talk on. Shiro looked stressed, and Allura seemed to be trying to calm him down. Matt eventually walked over to them and spoke with them for a bit, patting Shiro’s shoulder just as Allura had done.

After observing for a while, Keith could say for certain that Shiro and Allura were close, just as he could see Shiro and Matt were also close, but the only reason he’d come to the assumption that Shiro and Allura were dating was because Coran mentioned it was Shiro that Allura was frequently on the phone with, and Allura rarely lets anything distract her from work.

Matt left as quickly as he came, and Shiro and Allura watched him leave. Once he was gone, Keith noticed the two lean closer together in private discussion. They separated to a respectable distance though, the moment Coran and Mr. and Mrs. Holt emerged from what was probably the kitchen, considering the plates of food in their hands.

Keith narrowed his eyes at Shiro and Allura. Were they keeping their relationship a secret? But why would Shiro hide that from them? From Keith?

A twinge of hurt pricked Keith’s chest and he turned away to focus on whatever Hunk was saying only to realize Hunk was no longer next to him. With a cursory glance around, he spotted Hunk had gone for the food as soon as Coran and the Holts had laid the plates out on the table.

A high-pitched scream had him swiveling around to see Matt holding his stomach, laughing his ass off next to the open door, Pidge her arms and legs spread out and Lance in the strangest defensive position, looking startled.

Pidge jumped in the air and announced triumphantly, “I successfully imitated a pumpkin!”

“Not cool, Pidge!” Lance shouted. “Even if you weren’t in that thing, I would’ve still been scared by how suddenly you just jumped out at me. It had nothing to do with your costume!”

Keith didn’t even try to hide his laugh. The noise had Lance turning to him with a glare, but his expression immediately morphed into a grin when he saw him. As Lance clumsily adjusted his pointy witch hat back onto his head, he made his way over.

“Hey there, Mr. Big Bad Wolf,” Lance greeted teasingly, flicking at one of the wolf ears. He then considered Keith for a second. “You’d also make a fitting Little Red Riding Hood actually, come to think of it. Maybe. Just ‘cause you always wear that red jacket. I dunno, that made more sense in my head.”

Keith couldn’t help laughing again at Lance’s random comment.

“Alright, now that Lance has finally arrived—“ Pidge spoke loudly, calling everyone’s attention.

“It’s not a party without me,” Lance interjected with a smirk. Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Now that the late one’s finally not holding us back, we can get the party started!” Pidge said, jumping. “By that I mean continue whatever you were all doing. I literally spent all my time going all out with the pumpkins, and made absolutely no plan for the party. So go forth, and eat candy!” Pidge nodded at herself approvingly. “Yeah, that was a good speech.”

Matt snorted and ruffled her hair.As the siblings began a harmless squabble, Keith turned his attention back to Lance, noticing his hat was still crooked. He reached up and fixed it so it wasn’t falling off. “You make a pretty good witch. Or wizard. Warlock?”

“Witch is fine. That’s what the costume label was,” Lance said, waving off the issue nonchalantly but his cheeks bloomed with color, betraying his tone.

“Can there be male witches?” Keith asked.

“Uh, yes!” Lance exclaimed, swinging out his arms, almost smacking Keith. “The word isn’t actually gender-specific, and wizards and warlocks are completely different from witches. I’ve actually got a whole speech about this. Listen—”

Keith let Lance ramble on and didn’t even feel the need to snark at him. Maybe it was the way Lance couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off Keith even when they began to migrate towards the food or talk to others. Maybe it was because he was at his first Halloween party and surrounded by friends. Keith just felt comfortable in his own skin for once.

He noticed a feather stuck to Lance’s shoulder, probably from another costume and stepped closer to brush it off. Lance stuttered off, forgetting what he was saying mid-sentence, and stared at Keith with wide eyes.

“You’ve got stuff stuck to your costume,” Keith explained, looking up and only then noticing how close they were, but he enjoyed Lance’s warmth, so he didn’t move. Lance didn’t move either. Keith’s hand stayed on his shoulder and ventured down, just a little, close to where his heart beats. Still, Lance didn’t pull away. “You were saying?”

“Oh, uh, right. I was saying—uh, what was I saying…?”

“Something about Old English.”

“Oh right!”

***

Keith was acting differently.

Despite Pidge and Hunk brushing it off as his imagination, Lance was not imagining anything, okay! Maybe _others_ wouldn’t notice, but Lance hung around Keith the most, so _of course_ he would notice!

For one thing, Keith seemed to be distracted whenever Lance talked to him. Even though he’d be looking right at Lance, he seemed to become dazed, not in the broody way he had been for the past week, but in a dreamy sort of way, like Lance’s face was his ideal place for a thought bubble.

Secondly, he was also returning Lance’s touches, _and_ initiating his own touches—a HUGE development that NO ONE was noticing for some reason! Grabbing his hand, touching his arm or shoulder, sitting close… Lance was beginning to worry maybe it wasn’t the real Keith! Because what if he wasn’t? What if he’s actually an—an alien or something?!

Thirdly! Well, he couldn’t think of another one at the moment. There were a lot of things, though. Little differences.

And the last straw was when Keith leaned toward Lance, looking up at him through thick eyelashes and asked, “So, Mr. Witch, know any spells?”

Lance might have malfunctioned. Because there was _no way_ that wasn’t flirty. Keith’s voice was low and sultry, and he was close enough that Lance could feel his body heat, his expression expectant as he awaited Lance’s response.

Alarms blaring in his head, Lance made a sloppy excuse and dashed off, dragging Pidge and Hunk up to Pidge’s room for an emergency meeting.

“Okay, so what I’m hearing is,” Pidge said, interrupting Lance’s ramble as he paced back and forth in her messy room, somehow managing not to trip over everything, “you are troubled by the fact that Keith, the guy you—and I quote—‘ _like_ like’, is returning your affection?”

“Well, when you word it like _that_ ,” Lance started and then paused to think of what to say in his defense.

Pidge smacked her forehead down on her desk while Hunk tried and failed to hide a laugh from his corner on the bed.

Some time after Keith’s birthday, Lance had finally admitted his crush on Keith to Hunk and Pidge. Lance already had the feeling that they knew, but it was still frustrating how casually they took it when he gave them the big announcement. He was officially coming out of the closet to them! He at least expected happy tears from Hunk!

“What?” Lance huffed indignantly. “You guys don’t understand!”

“Oh believe me, I really don’t,” Pidge sighed, her face still flat on the desk. Lance couldn’t understand how she did that comfortably with her nose and glasses in the way.

“I’ve learned to just go with it,” Hunk said with a shrug.

“Ugh, fine. You guys are no help! I’m just gonna go back down and _not_ think about it!” Lance huffed, snatching up his jacket from the floor.

As the door closed, Lance missed what Pidge said to Hunk, but he did hear Hunk’s muffled voice from behind the door, responding, “Don’t worry so much, Pidge.”

Lance pressed his ear carefully against the door.

Hunk continued, voice more audible now, “Lance will figure it out eventually without us meddling. This is something he has to do on his own.”

“I know,” Pidge’s voice mumbled. “But what if everything goes wrong somehow? And then we’ll all stop hanging out and then—“

“Gaaah, stop, you’ll make me start worrying too! I’m the worrier, not you!” Hunk exclaimed and Lance could imagine Hunk waving his hands at her wildly to stop. “It’s just like Matt told us before. All of us will deal with any issues as they come, so no worrying about problems that may not even exist yet. They aren’t your fault. There’s trying to be a better friend and then there’s overcompensating, Pidge.”

There was a second of silence and then Pidge muttered, “You’re right. Thanks, Hunk.”

Warmth flooded Lance’s chest as he pulled away from the door and went back down. He hadn’t realized his friends still had their own worries too. Even though he and Pidge were back to being best friends, of course Pidge was scared of another falling out. He had started assuming they didn’t really care at all, but it looks like they were just as concerned as he is.

“It would still be nice if they did less ‘not meddling’, and more helping me figure out what’s going on with Keith,” Lance muttered to himself on the way down.

Back downstairs, he looked around for Keith only to notice a new addition to the party next to Shiro. He didn’t recognize the tall, bespectacled man and judging by the way Keith was scrutinizing the new guy, he didn’t seem to know him either.

Lance made his way over and he could hear Hunk and Pidge’s voices as they left her room to rejoin the party too. Soon, the whole group was gathered around the new guy.

Shiro looked slightly panicked and his friend looked a little confused but he gave a strained smile even as he was scrutinized on all sides.

“Yeah, so again, everyone, this is Adam,” Shiro said, gesturing to the taller man with one hand and then running his other hand through his hair—a nervous gesture, Lance guessed.

Keith turned to Shiro with a contemplative look. If Lance didn’t spend so much time watching Keith, coming to understand his expressions, he would’ve thought Keith was scowling. It probably looked that way to Shiro’s friend, who seemed to be getting more uncomfortable by the second.

“I’m uh, really glad you could make it to the party,” Shiro said, turning abruptly towards to Adam. He then gestured jerkily at Keith. “This is my brother, Keith.” Then to Keith. “Keith, this is my friend Adam.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you from your brother,” Adam said, smiling pleasantly at Keith.

“Hi,” Keith responded shortly and he resumed staring intently at Adam.

Lance winced at Keith’s curt tone and the way Adam’s smile dimmed a little. It only served to make Shiro more jumpy, though Lance wasn’t sure why Shiro was so panicked about Keith meeting his friend.

“Are you a business major like Shiro?” Hunk asked, attempting to break the silence falling over them.

Adam blinked in surprise. “No, I could never do business. I’m a physics major. We used to share a few classes before uh, before he changed his major.”

“We rarely talked before that though,” Shiro cut in. “But I ran into him by chance last semester. We recognized each other and then we just started talking from then on. We just…clicked, I guess?”

Adam scratched his cheek, eyes going to the ground before glancing up at Shiro. Shiro also shrunk with an uncharacteristic shyness as he met Adam’s gaze. Lance blinked, mouth falling open slightly.

“Takashi sort of stood out in the classes we shared, so of course I noticed when he stopped coming to class,” Adam explained, focusing back on Keith. “After learning the reason…Well, I’m just glad he’s back.”

While Adam spoke with Keith, Lance watched a mix of emotions play across Shiro’s face. He seemed cross between troubled and then nervous and bashful, and then when Shiro glanced at Adam, there was a look in his eyes that had Lance automatically turning away, feeling as if he’d seen something much too private.

Turning away from the three, he noticed Pidge and Hunk had left them at some point to get food. They were both seated at the table and chatting with Coran. Allura was strangely absent though.

Lance walked over to them and wrapped his arms around both their shoulders. “What are my best buds talking about?”

“Oh, well Coran was telling us stories about his grandfather. He was a very well-cultured man and used that to his advantage to make a bunch of original recipes,” Hunk explained excitedly.

Lance frowned a little, remembering the nunvill which had been a recipe of Coran’s grandfather. Instead of saying something potentially rude, he asked Coran, “Where’s Allura?”

Coran jabbed a thumb towards the partition covering the kitchen. “Back there again.”

“Again?” Lance pulled up a stool and sat beside Hunk.

“Yes, well, she usually escapes to the cafe kitchen, but I’m guessing the closest thing to her sanctuary right now would be that kitchen. Last week she said she needed to take inventory,” Coran explained, stroking his mustache. “The week before it was to test out some baked goods she wanted to try putting on the menu.”

Lance shared looks with Hunk and Pidge.

“Maybe she’s been feeling extra productive?” Pidge suggested with a shrug.

Lance and Hunk nodded in agreement to Pidge’s suggestion and turned to Coran hopefully.

“More accurately, it’s on days that Shiro brings that friend of his to the shop,” Coran corrected. His cheerful attitude cracked as he glanced worriedly toward the kitchen.

“Oh,” Hunk said, slumping. “Is she okay?”

“I can’t be sure myself, unfortunately. I’m not even sure if she _isn’t_ okay,” Coran sighed. “We can only wait and see. Luckily, the ol’ Coranic can help whatever the case!”

Coran pumped his arm as if tooting a horn then hurried away to check on Allura. Once he was gone, the trio all leaned close together in private discussion.

“What’s a Coranic?” Lance asked first and foremost.

Pidge looked at Lance flatly. “Not the issue here.”

“Okay, so I’m guessing Shiro rejected Allura recently?” Hunk asked. “Oh man, I thought they were perfect for each other!”

“I thought they were dating!” Lance hissed.

“Yeah, I had assumed the same thing,” Pidge said then frowned. “If they broke up or he rejected her, she sure hides it well when all of us are together.”

Lance thought back to the looks Allura and Shiro sometimes shared, gazes of closeness and understanding that left no doubt that they cared for each other. He then remembered the way Shiro looked at Adam, how much _more_ was in his gaze and the feeling of intrusion Lance got from witnessing it.

Maybe it was easier to hide heartbreak when it wasn’t shoved right in front of your face.

He was about to say as such, but then a chin dropped onto his shoulder and thick hair was tickling his face and neck.

“What’re you all huddling for?” Keith asked.

Pidge and Hunk shot back in their seats, startled. Shiro and Adam were far away in their own world, so it was just the four of them. The three of them shared a look, debating whether to bring Keith into the discussion or not.

Lance gave an almost imperceptible nod and Pidge and Hunk returned it before they all huddled back together. Keith moved away from Lance’s shoulder so he could lean in too.

“It seems like Allura’s upset about something related to Shiro,” Pidge said.

“Coran says she always hides in the cafe’s kitchen when Shiro comes to the cafe with that Adam guy,” Lance continued.

“We’re thinking she may have told Shiro her feelings recently and he rejected her or something along those lines,” Hunk added.

Keith’s face scrunched up into that contemplative frown of his as he considered their words. “Shiro doesn’t seem especially disturbed about talking with Allura if that’s the case.”

“Oh, true! He would definitely feel some discomfort after rejecting Allura after all,” Hunk said, snapping his fingers.

“And Allura was the one who invited Adam,” Pidge pointed out.

“Hello boys, and Pidge. May I ask what you’re all whispering about?” Allura’s commanding voice spoke before them.

They all sat up ramrod straight at Allura’s sudden appearance. She had two plates of what looked like food goo, which she set down in front of them, all the while eyeing them expectantly.

Lance panicked and said the first thing to come to mind. “We were just talking about your unmatched beauty, princess.”

Hunk and Pidge both groaned and Lance saw Keith slump over from his peripheral. Lance stuttered out to clarify, “I mean, you are unparalleled among _women_ —the most beautiful _girl_ I’ve ever seen—that is to say, not that you don’t beat a great many men in beauty, but, I mean—“

“Ugh, Lance, just stop now,” Pidge groaned, smacking her palm against her forehead.

Lance looked over at Keith and saw his rambling must have made Keith even more annoyed. Keith wouldn’t look at Lance, instead glowering down at the plate of food goo, and both his arms and legs crossed into his usual defensive pose. Lance wasn’t trying to be an obnoxious flirt, not _on purpose_ at least, but Allura’s laughter dragged his attention away.

She smiled warmly at Lance. “Thank you, Lance, I really appreciate it.”

It was the first time she had given him such a sincere smile that Lance couldn’t help the blush suddenly painting his cheeks.

“Oh uh, I um, no-o problem,” Lance said, voice cracking horribly.

Lance winced at himself. Keith scoffed derisively. It didn’t help when his clumsy reply had Allura laughing lightly again, the sound as pretty as wind chimes, demonstrating feminine charm at its finest, only serving to throw Lance off even more and turn him into a blushing, stuttering mess.

It was only when Pidge smacked his arm that he realized Keith had left without a word to any of them, rejoining Shiro and Adam.

“We should probably stop Coran before he starts trying to teach Mr. and Mrs. Holt how to make nunvill,” Hunk suggests, pointing to the kitchen where indeed Coran had his recipe book pulled out and Pidge’s overwhelmed parents could do nothing but be pulled along.

“Oh, not again,” Allura sighed.

Pidge looked Keith’s way then gave Lance a weighted look before she followed after Hunk and Allura. Lance watched them go then turned to Keith.

He still stood near Shiro and Adam, but the two were in their own world and Keith was basically brooding on his own within their vicinity.

“Hey, lone wolf,” Lance said both teasingly and cautiously as he approached. Keith looked at him, but didn’t really respond. Lance laughed nervously. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just tired,” Keith said. “Where’s Allura and the rest of them?”

“Putting a stop to Coran in the kitchen,” Lance grinned.

Keith’s lips twitched but didn’t quite reach a smile. He then looked away and Lance became aware the wide space between them. With a quick glance to Shiro and Adam who had wandered off to go sit on the couch, Keith said, “Turns out Allura and Shiro were never actually a thing. Looks like you still have a chance.”

Lance wasn’t sure how to respond to that so he just asked, “You think I have a chance with someone like Allura?”

Keith raised an eyebrow at Lance, his lips pursing. “Don’t _you_ think so?”

Lance couldn’t help the blush creeping back up his face at the vulnerability he’d let escape, but insecurity continued to gnaw at his insides. “Nah, she’s way out of my league. No way would anyone that amazing would wanna date me.”

Keith frowned, finally meeting Lance’s eyes, where he could conflicting emotions flickering across Keith’s face. Lance couldn’t begin to comprehend what his expression meant.

“You really are an idiot if you think that,” Keith said, looking away again. “Sparks were flying just a second ago between you two.”

“Oh…” Lance felt embarrassed by the observation, but he was also disappointed by the response.

_Would you date me?_ Lance wanted to ask Keith. Instead he said nothing. That made Keith look at him curiously.

“Don’t you want to date Allura?” Keith asked carefully.

Alarmed, Lance wondered if Keith had seen through him and somehow read his thoughts on his face, but Keith regarded him with confusion and something else that didn’t seem like disgust.

Lance tried to play off his moment of panic with a, “Pssssh, I mean, who doesn’t? Don’t—Don’t you?”

Keith’s expression shut down at that. “Not really. I’d rather not have to deal with being rivals with you again.”

Lance shot him a cocky grin, and said, “Oh, so you just don’t want me as a rival?”

Keith scowled. “I’m not interested with Allura, Lance.”

“Okay, okay,” Lance relented. “Then who would you be interested in?” _Would you be interested in me?_

Keith locked eyes with Lance with that unreadable expression again.

“Guys! Guys! I found the board games!” Matt yelled, catching everyone’s attention before Keith could respond. “Gather round, people! I’m gonna destroy all of you!”

“We’ll see about that!” Pidge shouted back from the kitchen.

Lance huffed, “Nonononono, I’m a board game _champion_ , buddy. _I_ am gonna destroy all of you.”

“I’ve never really played any board games before,” Allura said, popping up beside Lance as everyone piled into the living room where Matt dumped board games into the middle.

“Don’t worry, princess, I’ll teach you everything you need to know,” Lance said confidently placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest.

“Well then, I’m in your care, Lance,” Allura said, smiling back at him.

Lance deflated quickly and let out an embarrassingly high squeak of a laugh. He wasn’t used to positive responses. Behind him, he heard Keith mumble something and then Pidge responded, “I gotchu, Keith. Under my guidance, it’ll be as if you’ve been playing board games all your life.”

“Thanks, Pidge.”

The rest of the night was spent eating candy and playing a large assortment of different board games. They stayed on easy games since Allura, Keith, and Adam were new to them. As competitive and even aggressive as everyone got, in the end it was Coran who was the true board game champion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not ready for Voltron to end TT
> 
> Also, I meant to introduce Adam way earlier, but somehow I just never got around to Shiro's part of the story. Now that school isn't doing me in, I may work on this story more!


	14. He could have loved her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always appreciate every comment and kudos! Thank you so much! I will always be amazed that there are people who like the stuff I've written :)))

~He could have loved her~

The day after Halloween, Lance found Keith at his locker and bit back a snicker as he began to sneak up on him. But as he drew closer, he spotted a few yellow origami flowers decorating the inside and he froze.

“You kept them,” Lance said, shocked.

Keith turned around to Lance in surprise then crossed his arms, his cheeks coloring with embarrassment. Lance blinked rapidly at the sight of it and then had to look back at the old paper flowers in Keith’s locker.

“I thought for sure you would’ve thrown them away,” Lance admitted, turning to Keith with a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Keith huffed, glancing at his locker then closing it. “I was extremely impressed by all of them. The rest are in my drawer at home.”

“Oh, you kept all of them?” Lance squeaked, staring at him with with wide eyes, mouth agape. He probably looked dumb, but he couldn’t suppress his surprise nor the fluttering going on in his chest. He just hoped he wasn’t blushing too hard.

“Yeah, though it was a pain to carry it all home. I didn’t want any of them getting crushed in my bag,” Keith said, and Lance thought back to the first time he showered Keith in all those paper flowers. It feels so long ago now. “Shiro had been home early that day. You should’ve seen his expression when he saw me with an armful of small flowers.”

Now Lance was sure Keith could see the flush in his cheeks. He was burning up.

Keith stared at Lance, his eyes glinting as he leaned forward toward him, much too close. The proximity had Lance’s gaze flickering down to his red-bitten lips.

Keith opened his mouth. “Um,” he said.

“Wow, I really was just trying to mock you when I gave you those,” Lance blabbed, pulling away and stuffing his sweaty hands into his pockets. “I mean obviously I don’t give you origami out of mockery now, I was—at the time I thought I was gonna have to throw them all away and I thought I might as well throw them at you if that makes sense?”

Keith shut his mouth, and the glinting in his eyes was gone. He then looked thoughtful. “Strangely enough I actually do understand your logic.” He then shrugged, looking to the ground as he mumbled, “Either way, you gave them to me so I chose to keep them.”

Keith took the worn out yellow lily in his pocket. “This one’s my favorite.”

Lance’s eyes darted down to the flower and then despite his flushed cheeks he was attempting to smirk at Keith, but it ended up more like a huge, goofy grin. “You carry that around?”

The embarrassed tinge of red in Keith’s cheeks came back full force. He diverted his gaze, and Lance recognized awkwardness in his stance. “Uh, I like it—a lot.”

Before Keith could take it back, Lance was moving and his arms were around him. He was hugging him. Keith moved his hand holding the paper lily safely out of the way just as their chests made contact and then he was frozen as Lance giggled into his hair, “You are so precious, Keith!”

Lance felt Keith’s hands lightly touch his back, returning the hug, one hand still curled around the lily. Lance felt a bit dizzy as he registered Keith was _hugging him back_. Keith’s scent wafted over him and Lance found himself breathing it in, eyes fluttering closed.

His stuttering heart calmed back down and his lightheadedness fell away in Keith’s warm arms. In his peaceful state, coherent thoughts filtered back in and Lance realized neither of them were saying anything.

Lance had hugged Keith before, a casual arm around the shoulders or a sudden energetic hug when he’s super excited about something. Lance in general was a very touchy person, but he was usually babbling away with each hug, or Keith would make some snarky remark and pull away.

Like this, though, it was like they were hugging for the sake of simply hugging.

“This is really…weird,” Keith uttered, just as Lance was thinking to say the same exact thing.

Lance began snickering into his hair. Keith’s free hand clutched the clothes against Lance’s back which killed his snickering and had his heart back to stuttering.

Lance still made no comment on Keith’s statement, since he wasn’t sure how to respond, but he made sure to smile when Keith pulled away (slowly, maybe reluctantly, Lance noted) from the hug.

“Let’s go find Pidge and Hunk,” Lance said instead, keeping a huge smile plastered across his face.

Keith closed his locker and followed Lance quietly.

***

Keith’s mood went from quiet to downright foul as the day wore on, suddenly reverting back to how he was last year, ignoring Lance and everyone else around him. Unsure why, Lance persisted to sit beside Keith in each class, trying his utmost to be civil with the brooding boy, and still Keith ignored his every attempt to talk.

Lance chalked it up to it simply being a bad day for him. Keith had days where he didn’t want to talk as much and would mostly listen to them. Maybe the thoughts that usually plague him around his birthday were back again, but Lance couldn’t know unless Keith said something, and he didn’t want to push Keith to tell him everything. That was his own business to tell if he wanted to.

At the very least, he didn’t want Keith to be alone during lunch time, but as it was, Keith had gone off to one of his many loner spots and Lance was unlikely to find him before the end of lunch. He looked for him anyway while Hunk and Pidge wished him luck and went to eat lunch in the cafeteria.

After lunch, Lance resigned himself to leaving Keith alone for the day. Maybe he just needed that time alone. Still, the trio’s energy was muted without Keith’s usual presence beside them. Lance hoped things would be better on Friday.

They were. But not by much.

Keith didn’t continue to isolate himself, but he would give them the cold shoulder if they tried to address him. He just stayed within their vicinity and didn’t talk. He sometimes acknowledged something Pidge or Hunk said to him with a little _hmph_ or nod, but he barely looked Lance’s way.

Lance resorted to giving Keith puppy dog eyes during every lecture. Sure, he didn’t have it down quite as well as Hunk, but he prided in being able to do it _almost_ as well. Either way, it was ineffective if the person he was aiming it at refused to even look at him!

When the bell rang in the last class of the day, Lance had given up on talking to Keith for today, since the other boy clearly didn’t want to. He was packing up his backpack when suddenly his hood was shoved over his eyes.

Lance let out a startled noise and turned to his assailant. Keith stood there, looking back at him with a small smirk. Hunk and Pidge joined them with confused looks, just as uncertain as Lance was about what was going on with Keith’s on-and-off attitude to them.

“To the cafe right? We always go on Fridays,” Keith said, turning away from Lance and settling his gaze on Hunk instead.

Hunk and Pidge nodded, relieved that Keith was talking to them again. Lance couldn’t share the feeling though. Especially when they were outside and Lance reached for Keith’s hand only for him shoving his hands into his pockets, effectively avoiding Lance.

The two were walking behind Hunk and Pidge, so his friends didn’t notice the subtle avoidance. Lance though, felt thoroughly dejected as he stuffed his hands into his pockets too. There, he felt a post-it notepad he had forgotten to take out in one pocket.

Lance gripped the pad, remembering all the origami he’d searched up when he was looking for more simple ones Keith might be able to do. He had stayed up late that night, trying and retrying a good number of new ones up until tiny origami were scattered all over his bed, leaving barely any wiggle room by the time he stopped. He was distracted from his thoughts when Hunk started talking to him, having fallen back to walk beside Lance instead of Keith who was now ahead of them talking to Pidge.

***

At the cafe, Shiro and Adam were there at a table and Matt was at his usual seat against the counter, talking to Allura with a flirtatious smile. Allura looked vaguely amused, but was otherwise inattentive to his attempts at flirting.

“Oh man, he has no tact! That is not how you get the ladies,” Lance huffed.

Hunk laughed while Pidge snorted back, “The pot calling the kettle black, Lance.”

“Hey, I do not look like that when I—oh my cream cheese, I don’t really look like that, do I?” Lance asked, mouth gaping.

Hunk shrugged and said, “In my opinion, some of your pickup lines are genius.”

“You are the only one who understands me, Hunk!” Lance sniffed.

“‘Some’ he said,” Pidge reminded.

Keith only rolled his eyes, but made no comment as he followed them to the counter to order. Allura left Matt to attend to them with a bright smile.

“Hey, Allura, where’s Coran?” Hunk asked.

“He was trying out all our new recipes plus a few of his original recipes in progress yesterday, but some of the food he tried must have gone bad, so he took the day off to rest from the slight food poisoning he suffered,” Allura explained. 

“Oh wow, I hope he gets better soon,” Hunk said with a concerned frown.

Lance looked at Keith, sharing an amused look at the possible real reason Coran got food poisoning. Not to bash the older man, because he still makes good food, but his original creations tend to be questionable.

Keith turned away from Lance abruptly and said to Allura, “Just the raspberry scone—no food goo—and a macchiato.

Allura blinked in surprise. “No food goo?”

“I’m not that hungry,” Keith shrugged.

“But you didn’t even have lunch today!” Lance argued. “You’re getting food goo.”

Keith looked at Lance for a second, expression unreadable, before he let out a small sigh. “I guess.”

“The food goo is always on the house for all of you,” Allura said to them then mumbled to the side, “How else could I get rid of it?”

“I’m paying this time,” Lance said, but Keith touched his shoulder, the first touch since yesterday after he’d stormed off.

Lance felt a jump in his pulse and turned to Keith, all thoughts leaving him at the small smile on Keith’s face. Lance dared to hope they were okay again, even though the smile didn’t quite reach Keith’s eyes.

“It’s fine, Lance. I can pay for myself,” Keith said.

The small spark of hope shriveled away as quickly as it had come and Lance only had enough mind to nod shortly.

For the first time since they started coming to this cafe together, they didn’t pay for each other’s meal.

They all moved to sit at one of the bigger tables, and Lance hadn’t realize they usually had a specific arrangement in which they sat together—not until Keith messed it up by sitting next to Pidge instead of Lance. Matt ended up sitting on Pidge’s other side where Hunk usually sat, so Hunk had to take Keith’s usual spot next to Lance.

The extra time they spent scrambling to be seated had Shiro raising an eyebrow at them and then looking between Lance and Keith. Adam was oblivious to it all, typing away on his computer on Lance’s other side. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, complicated-looking diagrams on his screen reflecting off his glasses.

Matt and Pidge roped Keith into conversation fairly easily, and Lance found himself feeling unfairly jealous and excluded even though Hunk was next to him, talking to him. Lance was usually good at talking the day away to pretty much anyone nearby, but that day he could barely focus on what he and Hunk talked about.

Lance kicked Keith’s leg from under the table at one point, effectively grabbing the other boy’s attention, and Lance smirked at him before he continued to talk to Hunk and Shiro, waiting for the inevitable return kick. But when no kick was returned, Lance glanced Keith’s way and saw he was back to listening to Pidge.

Lance tried kicking Keith’s leg again, but then Shiro jumped instead and shot Adam a wounded and confused look. “Adam!”

Lance pressed his lips together, playing innocent as he looked at Adam.

“What is it?” Adam asked, not looking up. He then jumped and Lance assumed Shiro had kicked him. He looked up at Shiro, bewildered. “What?”

Keith shot Lance a small, knowing smirk, but otherwise didn’t say anything or even tattle on Lance as Shiro and Adam began to bicker affectionately (Lance didn’t know it was possible to be affectionate while arguing, but Adam and Shiro were pulling it off somehow—Are he and Keith like that?).

Not wanting to get caught as the culprit kicker, Lance scooted his chair back and stood up. “My legs are getting stiff so I’m just gonna…” Lance gestured vaguely away from the table. “Yeah.”

Lance strode over to the counter where Allura had been leaning over on the counter on her elbows, her lips pulled down in a frown.

“Hey, Allura, why the long face?” Lance asked, leaning his hip against counter.

Allura startled off the counter and gasped, “Oh! I’m sorry, I was so deep in thought I didn’t notice you there. Are you ordering?”

“No, I just wanted to stretch my legs,” Lance explained. In truth, he was just getting really frustrated with Keith ignoring-but-not-quite-ignoring him and needed to get away from the group for a bit.

“Oh, I see,” Allura said. She let out a forceful breath as she pushed back a loose strand of hair.

“You seem tired,” Lance commented. “Have you taken a break at all?”

“It may have slipped my mind.” Allura admitted with a rueful smile. “Since we’ve officially added new recipes to the menu today, it looks like a lot of customers are coming to try it. Courtesy of Coran who taste-tested every recipe and resulted in his upset stomach today.”

“His sacrifice has not been in vain,” Lance said solemnly, pressing a hand to his chest and closing his eyes. “The Coranic will not sink from the hit he’s taken—not to be confused with the Titanic.”

Allura laughed a little and Lance opened his eyes to see her smile was a little less tired now. She then brightened up more as she asked, “Why don’t you try one of our new desserts too? In light of the winter season, we have chocolate crinkle cookies and they seem to be the most popular of our new selection.”

“Aw yeah of course! I’ll break from the mold,” Lance grinned, thrumming his fingers against the counter as he leaned back to check out said cookies on display.

Allura placed a few into two bags and handed them both to Lance.

“You’re not charging?” Lance asked in surprise.

“Quirks of making the owner feel better on a bad day. Share with your friends,” Allura said with a wink.

Lance took the bags gratefully and proceeded to hand a cookie to Allura. When she looked at him in confusion, he said, “I’m sharing with one of my friends right now.”

Allura looked touched as she took the proffered cookie. As Lance backed away from the counter he reminded, “Make sure to take a break at some point!”

Allura shot him a grateful smile, and Lance finger gunned then proceeded to trip over a chair behind him, leaving him stumbling all the way back to his seat. He could hear Allura laughing from the counter, which made it worth it.

Back in his seat, Lance noticed Keith was quiet, not conversing with anyone as he glared at something on the table and sipped his drink. One would think the table had somehow offended him.

“Reverting back into your brooding habits, Keithy?” Lance teased, leaning over to wave a cookie in Keith’s face.

Keith’s gaze darted up to him then to the cookie being shoved in his face, and fianlly back up at Lance, now confused. Lance jabbed the cookie against one cheek and Keith instinctively leaned his head away from the assault.

He continued waving the cookie in his face, amused by the way Keith’s eyes followed the movement, and he wondered how long he’d have to do this before Keith got annoyed.

Apparently not very long, as Keith soon let out a growl and bit the offending cookie. Lance pulled back with less than half a cookie in hand now, barely restraining a smirk from turning into a goofy grin as Keith chewed angrily only for his anger to melt at the taste of the cookie.

“How is it?” Lance asked, amused.

Keith’s mouth was still full so he just nodded and attempted to smile at Lance through full cheeks. This time Lance could do nothing about the toothy grin splitting across his face. He shared the cookies with the rest of the group, happily eating the other half of the cookie Keith bit.

***

Once Matt decided it was time to go home, Pidge left with him and the rest of the group also dispersed. Lance hoped to catch Keith outside and walk with him, but Keith left the cafe quickly while Lance was still stuffing his homework and textbooks into his backpack.

“Left behind again, I see,” Allura’s voice said from nearby.

Lance looked up to see she was addressing Shiro. Neither of them seemed to notice Lance was still there, bent over and packing his backpack.

Shiro’s lips quirked into a small smile as he stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Yeah, we fell out of the habit of going home together after I became too busy with all the new classes and subjects.”

Allura’s teasing expression softened into concern. “How are classes going? Do you like your new major?”

Shiro shrugged. “I’m fine with it so far, I guess. And it was what my parents wanted me to do originally anyway.”

“But what about piloting?“ Allura stepped closer and spoke quietly.

“It’s alright,” Shiro said, lifting his prosthetic hand and looking at it with a wistful expression. “Even if I could get back out there, it just wouldn’t be the same.”

Shiro shook himself out of it and touched Allura’s arm (with his other hand, Lance noted), smiling warmly at her. “Thank you for your concern, Allura.”

Allura smiled back at Shiro, looking a little wistful herself.

“Anyways, I shouldn’t keep Adam waiting. We agreed to go back to the campus since he wants to ask a professor something,” Shiro said, pulling away from her. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“I’ll be here, as always,” Allura confirmed.

Shiro smiled broadly and gave a short wave before exiting.

Had Lance not known Shiro liked Adam, he would’ve definitely thought Allura and Shiro were perfect together. Heck, he had thought so up until Adam came along. Maybe Allura had thought the same.

Allura watched Shiro through the door window until he was out of sight and then looked ready to get back to work once he was gone, but Lance stood up and touched her shoulder. She looked a little startled at Lance’s presence but quickly recovered.

“Hello, Lance. I didn’t see you there.”

“Hey, Allura, are you…“

The bell chimed as more customers came in. Fridays were generally busy days for the cafe, with few lulls in customers. Allura looked a little worn-out working the cafe all on her own, small as it was, so Lance changed his question last second.

“—okay with me helping with the register while you make drinks and food? You look like you could use some help.”

Allura exhaled softly and gave Lance a smile. “I would gladly accept your help, Lance, but do you know how to work a register?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, I’ve had odd summer jobs here and there, and I’m a quick learner.”

Lance set his to-go drink safely aside while they dealt with the rush of customers. Most wanted their orders to-go, but quite a few would stay to eat at one of the small tables and leave after finishing. While a bit clumsy at first, the two soon moved like clockwork. Lance helped with the register and serving to those who ordered for-here.

In the few lulls here and there, Lance worked on folding a flower he remembered he considered simple and repetitive. He didn’t know if it would work on post-it note, since the flower ended up fairly small on regular origami paper, so would be even smaller with a post-it, but while small, it ended up that it was possible and was much easier than folding a lily. Lance had a tiny pink lotus sitting on the counter by evening.

Once it was finally close to closing and the cafe emptied, Allura closed up shop, and they both sighed in relief. Lance went to take his drink, but Allura snatched it away and said, “I can make a fresh cup for you.”

“No, that’s alright, I wouldn’t want it to go to waste—“

Allura shot Lance a look and huffed, “Are you suggesting I’d throw this away? I’m quite fond of lukewarm drinks, thank you.”

She took a sip of the drink as she stared Lance down, eyes glinting. Lance surprised himself when laughter burst out of him. 

“At least let me pay for the new drink,” Lance insisted, biting back .

“No, consider it my thanks for helping out for all of today,” Allura said as she prepared the new drink.

“I volunteered,” Lance argued.

“You just love being contrary, don’t you?” Allura sighed. She then paused, eyeing something behind Lance. “Did you make that?”

Lance turned to see she was looking at the tiny lotus flower and felt a bit of shyness creep up as he scratched the back of his neck and said, “Uh, yeah.”

“Oh so that’s what you were fiddling with between breaks!” Allura gasped, looking intrigued. She turned to quickly finish Lance’s drink.

Once done, she set the freshly made cup next to Lance on the counter then carefully picked up the lotus as if it was made of thin glass. The pink flower sat neatly in the middle of Allura’s cupped hands as she admired it. Instead of the puny flower accentuating Allura beauty, she managed to be the one that gave what Lance had thought looked like a tacky paper flower something more graceful.

“This is amazing, Lance. You have gifted hands,” Allura told him softly.

Lance felt his face heat up in embarrassment and when he tried to speak, his voice cracked. He cleared his voice and tried again, “Yeah, it’s sort of been a hobby of mine since I was a kid. I only started doing it again pretty recently.” _Because of Keith_ , Lance remembered.

“I’m glad you have. May I have this?” Allura asked, looking at him hopefully.

“Uh, y-yeah, sure,” Lance squeaked.

“I’ll have this as payment then,” Allura said, smiling back down at the flower. She held it close to her chest and continued to stare at it for a while.

Lance noticed Allura’s smile dimming as she asked, “Do you know what a lotus symbolizes?”

Lance frowned slightly. As many flower origami as he made, he actually didn’t know the meaning of any of them, so he shook his head.

“A lotus comes from the bottom of a muddy pond and yet emerges above it and blooms into this beautiful flower, untouched by the mud of which it arose. It symbolizes purity and perfection,” Allura said, a bittersweet smile playing on her lips. “I am neither.”

Lance shook his head in dismay. “Allura…“

Allura took a long sip of her lukewarm drink. Lance decided to do the same with his drink so she wasn’t alone. Allura exhaled forcefully after slamming down her cup.

“There was a man I used to love,” Allura admitted, closing one hand over the lotus, as if hiding it. “He seemed so sweet. I felt like we understood each other, that we shared the same ideals, but it turned out that he was a _manipulative bastard!”_

Allura voice rose enough to make Lance flinch, and she was bent over slightly, taking a few deep breaths before straightening up and brushing her hair back to rights with her free hand. She stood tall and dignified and Lance couldn’t believe someone like her could ever break, but there she stood with a broken heart.

“He used me,” she said flatly. “I left the life I had with him behind and my uncle took me in here. And then I met Shiro.”

Lance pressed his lips together. He wanted to say something, but it didn’t look like Allura was looking for consolation. She seemed to just be letting it out.

“He was the opposite of Lotor,” Allura sighed. “Kind and sincere and somewhat goofy. And gay.”

Lance tensed a little, but Allura noticed as she was watching him carefully. Her expression only revealed muted amusement. It became clear Allura really had overheard what Lance and their friends were discussing earlier today.

“It was a breath of fresh air to have become friends with Shiro, so don’t misunderstand,” Allura said quietly. “I’m going to miss being his best friend, the one he consults first and tells everything to. I’m going to have to relinquish that spot to Adam.”

Lance approached Allura and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. “He’ll still treasure you as his best friend all the same. That won’t change.”

Allura finally allowed a few tears to fall and she thumped her forehead onto Lance’s shoulder. Lance gave her what he hoped was a comforting hug. It was a short hug as Allura pulled away and turned away sniffling messily.

“I’m sorry. This is really embarrassing,” Allura said a little frantically. “I don’t usually lose my composure like this.”

“Everyone has their weak moments,” Lance said. “And you’ve been holding all that in for however long when you really don’t need to constantly act strong like that. You have Coran and all of us who come here—we’re all friends and we support each other.” Lance took a step closer and Allura glanced back up at him. “It takes strength to admit you’re hurting too.”

Allura looked back down, taking in Lance’s words. After a few seconds, she turned to Lance fully, wiping the last of her tears. She sniffled one last time then said with a grateful smile, “Thank you, Lance. Speaking with you has actually made me feel better.”

“Only trying to help, princess,” Lance said.

Allura looked like she wanted to be annoyed at the nickname, but a fond smile pulled at her lips. “I don’t understand you and Shiro, both giving me ridiculous royalty titles. You two are quite similar, honestly.”

Lance’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Wow, that’s actually really flattering to hear. Shiro’s such a cool guy. He’s kinda become my hero.”

Lance scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed by the admission. Allura smiled back, understanding.

“Well, you should go on home now, Lance. It’s getting late. I can drive you back, if you’d like.”

Lance shrugged. “It’s Friday, so it’s not like I have a bunch of homework to finish tonight. I can walk.”

“Alright, well be careful. I’ll finish cleaning up here, so go on,” Allura said, waving him away with one hand, the other still holding the flower.

Lance picked up his drink and turned to leave, but paused.

“Oh, Allura!”

“Hm?”

He put the drink down as he returned to Allura, grabbing her closed hand and urging it open to reveal the pink lotus flower that she had been careful not to crush.

“I think this flower suits you just fine. You’ve been through a muddy life, I’m guessing, and you came out just perfect. In my opinion at least, if that means anything,” Lance said sincerely.

Allura’s eyes misted over a second time today but she blinked it away and let out a shaky laugh. “That means a lot. It really does.”

Allura’s hand closed around the flower again as she gave Lance an unexpectedly tight hug.

In that moment, just briefly, Lance wondered if maybe he might be able to have serious feelings for Allura. He could imagine himself falling in love with her. He could see himself asking her out for dinner and being the one to mend her broken heart. He could see her meeting his family and letting them melt away any bitterness still left from her past. He saw a future with Allura flash before his eyes in a blink and vanish in the next, because…he wasn’t in love with Allura.

“He’s really lucky to have you,” Allura whispered, maybe to herself. Lance almost wondered if he imagined her barely audible voice, but before he could wonder further she pulled away and disappeared behind the curtain to the kitchen. Lance stood frozen for a second, the warmth of her touch lingering then replaced by a different warmth altogether, even as Lance felt his chest constrict.

Because suddenly he could only think of Keith. Hugging Keith, not to comfort him, nor on a whim of excitement over some irrelevant topic, simply just hugging _Keith_ —and he remembered doing just that yesterday and he remembered a little further back, Keith pulling the worn-out yellow lily from his pocket and his clumsy response and all Lance could think was _I love him._

Lance pressed a hand against his chest, trying to calm the organ currently bruising against his ribs as he thought about dark hair, tacky fingerless gloves, and wrinkled paper flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...season 8, huh?
> 
> Anyway, I actually wrote this chapter a while ago but I hadn't really edited it until now so I'm sorry this is pretty bad timing to post this, while some feelings about the show may be raw still.
> 
> I'm gonna miss Voltron, while I'm also glad it ended. The wait and the wonder for what would come next was fun torture.


	15. She could have loved him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I like to live in rainbows and sunshine, different sexualities are much more accepted in this world and their problems won't extend past feelings and friendship and all that because screw actual life problems like getting into college or getting jobs.
> 
> Also because I do not in fact live in rainbows and sunshine, classes are hell and so I'm sorry to say my writing tends to degrade with it as my brain power depletes. (Intro science classes and labs may be called intro, but they will still beat you up, throw you to the ground, and kick you continuously. But I still don't miss high school even if I still feel like a high schooler. But then again it hasn't been that long since I got out of high school. Is the chapter title even relevant to most of this chapter? I'm gonna stop ranting vaguely about my personal life now. I'm tired I'll edit this later haha no you wont)

~She could have loved him~

When Keith woke up that Saturday morning, he knew he had been acting like an oversensitive brat the past few days. He already knew Lance had flirtatious tendencies, although fortunately he doesn’t outright flirt with anyone anymore. Lance can compliment people as easy as breathing, and it’s not like Keith wanted to be the most beautiful to Lance or anything. (He’d rather be the most handsomely rugged, or something.)

But he was already troubled by both the insistent thoughts at the back of his mind, telling him to ask Lance about their relationship, and the overflowing thoughts that were scared to death of ruining things as they were now.

Well, at least now Keith knew they weren’t dating. They were just really close friends in Lance’s eyes. Lance obviously still liked Allura. Because, who _doesn’t_ want to date Allura? As Lance said. Allura is the most beautiful among men and women, after all.

But when Lance hugged him, just hugged him, he was the most beautiful in _Keith’s_ eyes. And Keith realized he wasn’t just crushing on Lance anymore. He was in love with him.

And Lance liked Allura.

Keith grabbed one of his pillows and stuffed it into his face, attempting to suffocate himself for all of three seconds before he rolled out of bed, shaking all thoughts from his mind other than breakfast.

Shiro was already in the kitchen, eating cereal. He was looking at his phone as he ate, frowning as he attempted to text with his prosthetic thumb.

“They should make phones that people with cyber arms can use,” Shiro muttered with a frown, putting down his spoon so he could text with his other hand.

“It’s not like you use your phone much except to nag me,” Keith snorted as he poured some cereal for himself.

Shiro just sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You could get a Nokia maybe,” Keith suggested, managing to keep a straight face even as Shiro quirked an eyebrow at him.

“No. Just…no,” Shiro said flatly.

Keith let a laugh escape as he sat across from Shiro. “Pidge mentioned there’s research going into making artificial limbs that have human touch.”

Shiro hummed in response, not sounding too interested. “I have great control and sensation with this arm though, and like you said, it’s not like I use my phone much.”

“Oh wait, but that means less talking with Adam when you’re apart,” Keith teased. He knew now Adam had been the one Shiro was always meeting up with and texting. He was probably trying to text him right now.

Shiro visibly reddened and quickly turned the conversation to Keith. “I never see you use your phone much either, Keith. Other than for browsing the interwebs.”

Shiro grinned when Keith gave him a deadpan expression. He continued, “Interwebs aside—“

Keith bit his lip, refraining himself from encouraging Shiro by reacting to that word. He wasn’t sure why it got to him. A lot of little things just irked him for unexplainable reasons and Shiro knew most of them. (Like ketchup. Keith just had something against ketchup.)

“—how come you aren’t constantly texting Lance or being texted by Lance? Or at least Pidge.”

Keith frowned, opened his mouth to answer then paused, mouth hanging open. His shut his jaw as he thought about it. “I would say it’s because we already see enough of each other almost every day, but actually, I don’t even have his number.”

Shiro’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

“I remember I texted him my number through your phone—it was a long while back, but he never got back to me on that. And otherwise, it just never came up,” Keith explained with a shrug.

Shiro frowned at Keith. “All this time you never had his number?”

“I never got _any_ of their numbers, to be fair,” Keith pointed out. 

“It’s going to be winter break soon. How will you communicate with them then?” Shiro asked. “It’ll be a boring two weeks only being able to talk to them through me. I can’t be your messenger, especially with this prosthetic discriminator of a phone.” Shiro shot his phone a scowl.

Keith chuckled. “I guess you’re right.”

Shiro’s phone buzzed, alerting him to text. He put down his spoon to check it and brightened at what he saw. Keith didn’t have to wait long to figure out why.

“Adam managed to get a lot of progress on his project done yesterday so he’s free to hang out today,” Shiro informed. “He says we can meet at the cafe later. Wanna come with?”

Keith thought about it. He was just going to study anyway and the cafe was more preferable than the empty house.

“Sure.”

***

Keith would be lying if he said he wasn’t hoping to see Lance and his friends at the cafe when they arrived. He had come to associate the cafe with their group of friends even though it used to just be him and Shiro who came here.

Where he used to have school and his private life separate, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk blurred the line, and Keith didn’t mind at all.

Unfortunately, they weren’t there and Keith had to stamp down disappointment.

“Shiro! Keith! Good afternoon,” Allura greeted happily.

As they took their seats by the counter, Shiro commented, “You’re in a rather good mood for someone working the weekend alone.”

“Yes well the lunchtime rush just passed, so I can finally take a bit of a break after I get your orders,” Allura said. “The usual?”

They nodded and Shiro added a drink for Adam in his order. Allura took note and then she was off to the kitchen, humming lightly. The brothers exchanged amused expressions.

“She seemed so stressed lately. I’m glad she’s feeling better,” Shiro said.

Keith nodded, choosing not to voice the possible reasons for her stress that he and the trio had discussed before.

Adam soon arrived and Shiro went to join him at the table while Keith chose to stay where he was. He fiddled with the lily in his pocket as he awaited his order, examining the new items menu.

His eyes wandered down to the syrup flavors list posted on the side of the desserts shelf, and there, something small and pink caught his attention. His eyes fell to the splash of color contrasting against the white and blue interior of the cafe, half-hidden behind the register and tip cup.

“Here you go, Keith. Food goo and Thai tea,” Allura said, placing the items on his counter then circling around him to give Adam and Shiro their orders.

Keith watched her chat with Shiro and Adam a bit before turning back to the pink thing. He leaned over the counter and slid the tip cup aside a bit, revealing a pink paper lotus flower.

Keith’s heart missed a beat when he realized it was too small for an origami flower—like one that had been folded from a sticky note.

An image of Lance leaning casually on the counter and grinning as Allura laughed at something he had said surfaced from Keith’s memories and bitter resentment unwillingly welled up in his chest. The crunch of paper under his hand pulled him out of it and he took his hand out of his pocket to see he had crushed the paper lily.

The anger and jealousy that had Keith shaking rapidly disintegrated into heartache as he looked at the innocent flower. He fixed the crooked petals as best he could in silent apology before placing it back into his pocket.

Allura returned just then smiling brightly at Keith, completely unaware of his ugly feelings.

“How are you, Keith?” Allura asked as she glanced over her notepad of new orders from customers staying in the cafe longer.

“‘m fine,” he mumbled then busied his mouth with food goo. Keith was glad she didn’t look his way long. He couldn’t meet her eyes at the moment.

He gaze focused on the lotus instead, sitting there innocently, just out of sight of most people.

***

Distant Keith was rapidly becoming Lance’s new normal and he hated it. He wanted to go back to the easy touches and the soft smiles and teasing words. Now Keith never even stood next to Lance, his smiles were tame, and all his words seemed to have an edge to them when he spoke to Lance. 

They went to the cafe after school as usual, and as per the new normal, Keith left quickly right after finishing his food, claiming he was behind on his homework, but Lance highly doubted that.

With one of them leaving, it usually started a chain reaction of the rest of the group dispersing, but Lance decided to stay even when Hunk and Pidge followed suit after Keith. Adam decided to leave too, since he had a huge physics assignment to work on over the weekend, so that left Lance and Shiro in the cafe, along with a few other customers.

“So,” Shiro started slowly, clasping his hands together on the table, “any reason you didn’t leave with them today?”

Lance rubbed the back of his neck and responded, “Oh, I just don’t feel like walking, you know. I’m pooped!”

Shiro only raised an eyebrow at him and Lance slumped, knowing the excuses were half-hearted at best.

“I think—No, I’m _sure_ that I must’ve somehow maybe made Keith mad some days ago,” Lance sighed.

“What happened?” Shiro asked patiently.

Lance fumbled with his fingers underneath the desk, nervous energy thrumming through them. “I…um I’m not sure.”

Lance paused, eyeing Shiro a little. While he thought Shiro was a great guy and quite possibly already knew Lance liked Keith, he wasn’t sure Keith’s older brother was the right person to confront about his feelings for Keith.

Lance decided to jump right to the problem. “Okay, so, well, I know it doesn’t seem like Keith is mad, which to be honest is _really_ weird because sometimes he’ll outright ignore me all day and then suddenly he’ll be okay again the next and Keith’s usually so much more temperamental; I think I’d rather he lash out at me so I’d at least _know_ —anyways! He’s more distant,” Lance looked down and muttered the last bit, “to me at least.”

Shiro gave Lance a look of understanding and commented, “You usually sit next to each other, but he’s been sitting next to Pidge instead.”

Lance nodded vigorously.

“And he hasn’t been touching you that much.”

Luckily there was no food or drink in Lance’s mouth or he would’ve spit it out just then. As it was, he could only splutter incoherently.

Shiro snorted, “Do you think I didn’t notice how touchy you two are? Keith’s my brother. I of all people would know just how closed off he usually is. But he’s always open with you.”

Lance felt his face warm, and he dragged a hand down his face, hoping to hide the blush forming on his cheeks.

“Why don’t you, I dunno, ask Keith about it?” Shiro suggested.

“What am I supposed to say? ‘Hey Keith, why don’t you touch me anymore?’? But that’s not even the actual problem!” Lance exclaimed then groaned into his hands. “I mean, yeah, I don’t want him to stop, I just…”

“Want to make your relationship official?” Shiro finished for him.

Lance looked up at him, startled. Even though he suspected Shiro knew (seeing as Shiro always made excuses that got Keith to go with Lance instead of him when leaving the cafe), there was _thinking_ he knew and then there was _knowing_ he knew.

His crush’s brother knew! Lance shrunk a little, which was all the admittance Shiro needed. Lance couldn’t avoid the subject now.

“You started the whole touching and hand holding thing to see if Keith would be receptive to it and to dating you, right?” Shiro asked.

Lance thought back on it. “That’s where your observation is wrong, Mr. Know-It-All,” he said after deliberating. “I honestly didn’t notice it till now.”

Shiro’s sympathetic expression fell flat suddenly, replaced with a more exhausted look. “So you were dating on accident, basically,” Shiro said more than asked. He sighed. “Look, I think you’re a good guy, Lance. You even remind me of myself sometimes, when I was younger, but if you’re just leading my little brother on—”

“I’m not!” Lance shouted, flailing his arms and legs, and inadvertently kicking Shiro’s solid leg. It hurt Lance more than it did Shiro as he flinched his foot back while Shiro only startled a little and moved his leg out of the way.

After recovering from the kick, Lance said as sincerely as possible, “I _do_ like Keith.” _I think I love him._ “I do think about…dating him.” Lance’s gaze faltered down to his squirming hands on the table.

He hadn’t even mentioned this to Pidge and Hunk yet, but now he was blabbing to Keith’s brother, of all people. He should _shut up and think_ before he says something stupid again. But Lance was now in panic mode and when he’s in panic mode, he rambles.

“I used to be a jerk to Keith, but hey, he was also a jerk first! We hated each other for—forever! You know? I mean, I didn’t ever actually _hate_ him, but I’m sure he hated me. And I know I can be annoying, heck, I even annoy myself, but I just, ugh, I wanted to be friends with Keith, and it was a real low blow to me whenever he brushed me off. Now we’re finally, _finally_ friends, somehow, some way, and I don’t want to lose it.” Lance took a shaky breath and ducked his head. “I just don’t know if I’m ready to risk that.” Lance paused for a moment then sighed, “Plus, is Keith even into dudes?”

He heard Shiro snort and looked up to see him stifling laughter. Lance frowned, to which Shiro held out his hands and said hurriedly, “Sorry, sorry, it was just uh—” Shiro cleared his throat and quickly regained his composure.

Lance couldn’t be sure whether to feel like he’d just been made fun of or if it was something else, but when Shiro spoke again, he addressed Lance seriously. “I understand what you’re saying, Lance. All of it. And I’m glad you told me. Look, Keith is…I can tell you that he’s into dudes, so you’re fine there.” Shiro quirked a small smile then turned away, rubbing the back of his neck as he continued, “And also, well, the thing is, if you never take the risk, you might have worse regrets.”

Lance had heard that before, but it didn’t really make him feel better, because he still felt he’d have way worse regrets if Keith began to hate him somehow and he lost Keith’s friendship because his feelings either weirded Keith out or their relationship ends up a mess or-or…in any case, he…loves Keith. There was so much to lose.

Lance wasn’t sure how to say this to Shiro without them ending up in a circular conversation, so he let out another worry that he hadn’t been able to chase away all this time instead, “I’m not even sure if _I’m_ into dudes.”

The look on Shiro’s face was that of blatant disbelief. 

Lance pushed himself to keep speaking, to get Shiro to at least understand this, “Some time ago I was so sure I was straight, y’know? I do like Keith. More than any girl I’ve liked before! I do want to date him—officially—too. But…” he looked down at his lap, “haven’t I said the same thing about every fleeting crush I’ve had before? What if I’m just, I dunno, infatuated? What if I end up hurting Keith’s feelings with my flimsy ones? What if I _am_ straight and just confused?”

A few seconds of silence passed while Lance awaited judgement, staring down at his hands on the table. He didn’t want to discredit his own feelings, but back in middle school he was always so convinced he was in love every time any girl bothered to give him the time of day. He felt both indignation for even allowing himself to compare Keith to those girls and resignation at his own stupidity because leave it to him to be dumb enough to be tricked over and over again.

What’s worse, it’s not like it ended in high school. Pidge had told him last year more than once that he was completely blind in love. (Pidge’s main reference being what she called the “Nyma Incident”.)

Shiro asked, “Does Keith remind you of a girl?”

Lance looked up and frowned at him. “No way.”

“Are the traits you like about him considered feminine?”

Lance shook his head.

“When you imagine having sex—“

“Whoa, whoa, okay, I get it!” Lance shouted, face flushing at the sudden inappropriate topic. But despite his embarrassment, fleeting images of him and Keith doing indecent things crossed his mind. He shook them away determinedly, feeling all too warm, and focused on other thoughts instead.

He then looked at Shiro curiously.

“What about you, Shiro? With Adam and all…” Lance said, gesturing vaguely.

Shiro looked surprised for a brief moment and then he smiled wryly at Lance. “So you noticed, huh? Even Keith has. Am I that obvious?”

Lance thought about it and shook his head slowly, but Shiro saw right through the lie.

Shiro ran his robotic hand through his hair as he heaved a deep sigh. “I figured out I wasn’t straight back in high school, like you. I’d never liked any girls before, but I had thought some guys were attractive and it was scary that I had those opinions about the same gender when no one else did. I wondered if something was wrong with me.”

Lance thought back to the first time he saw Keith in freshman year and nodded slowly.

“But Lance, owning who you are is going to make you better as a person,” Shiro said with a reassuring smile. “It may be more confusing for you when you still have an attraction to girls. You seem like the kind of guy who has a lot of love to give, and that’s not a bad thing. Just because you can’t ‘choose’ one gender to like, it doesn’t void your feelings for Keith.”

Lance considered Shiro’s words for a while, letting them sink in. Back when he talked with Nica about all this, all she had done was sit him down and explain it was possible to like both boys and girls and that Lance was probably bisexual. And then she had to calm him down as he freaked out about his possible crush on Keith.

Actually accepting himself as bisexual was a bit more iffy. Not because he didn’t think it a normal thing; he just never thought about it, and so he never thought himself as someone who liked _boys_ in general. Lance did like Keith, but he never quite got around to officially asking him out, because he kept having doubts about being able to really like a boy, especially when he would see a girl he thought was cute and could easily imagine himself dating her.

He couldn’t imagine dating Keith, but longing pooled inside him at the thought. Would it be the same as they are now? Would it feel different to hold his hand? Would Keith share Lance’s elation at the small things in their relationship like kissing and setting up the perfect date or giving each other flowers or remembering all the anniversaries Lance would no doubt make up? Lance couldn’t imagine it, but despite being scared of ruining their friendship, he really wanted to know.

So Lance liked girls. He quite possibly liked boys too, but even if he didn’t, it didn’t void his feelings for Keith, because that just meant Keith was his exception.

“Okay, so I’m not straight,” Lance said, and it felt easier to process saying it aloud in a statement rather than a question. Shiro beamed, reminding Lance of a proud father. Lance sighed and muttered, “It doesn’t change that Keith is mad at me. ”

“I have no doubt that things will work out,” Shiro said. “Keith never seems able to stay mad at you for long. And I think it’s because there’s no question that you really care about him. Whatever you did that upset him, I’m sure it wasn’t with the intention of hurting him. Just keep being yourself, Lance. And be sincere.”

Shiro bent down to pick up his bag just as Allura approached with drinks in to-go coffee cups. Shiro got up and gratefully took the drink she handed him.

“On the house,” Allura said to Lance softly as she set the drink down in front of him. She turned to Shiro and said, “Same for you. You come too often. We might make you broke.”

Shiro chuckled. After taking a sip, he remarked, “As a business major, I feel compelled to tell you you can’t run a business if you never charge money.”

“It’s only with our food goo and whenever it seems like people really just need it,” Allura huffed. She then turned a kindly expression to Lance and said, “It’s chai latte. You and Keith usually order the same drinks and you looked terribly curious of Keith’s drink today.”

Lance blinked, feeling an unexpected wave of gratitude wash over him as the two smiled warmly at him.

Shiro checked the time and said, “I should be going. I don’t want to leave Keith alone in the house.”

Before he left, Allura touched his shoulder and told him sternly, “Remember to take care of yourself too, Shiro. I know how you are.”

Shiro laughed lightly and gave her a slight bow. “Your word is my command, your highness.”

Allura let out a huff of frustration but seemed to be biting back her own smile. She smacked his shoulder, and Shiro grunted at the strength of it (It made Lance remember the time she easily flipped Keith over).

“Go on, now. I’ll likely see you tomorrow, I expect?” she asked.

“Of course,” Shiro said, tipping his head once in an affirming nod.

He walked toward the exit, and Allura watched him go, but he stopped at the door and turned toward Allura again, sweeping into an exaggerated bow where he was safe from Allura’s smacks. “Until we meet again, Your Highness, thy paladin shall looketh forward to it!” he announced with great grandeur.

Lance covered his mouth but failed to stifle the laughter that erupted from his mouth, while Allura shouted back, “Thou art an unruly paladin! Hie, leaveth apace!”

Shiro swept away a nonexistent cape and made his dramatic exit. Several customers were giggling at the display, while Lance could only stare, mouth now hanging dumbly.

“What. Was. THAT!?” Lance exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Allura groaned and smacked her palm against her face. “Coran makes us play Dungeons and Dragons with him a lot, and Shiro _always_ chooses to be a paladin. He gets really into it sometimes.”

Lance barked out laughter. “Oh man, this changes my whole mental image of Shiro! He’s always so cool and responsible, but he’s actually a dork!”

Allura covered her mouth as laughter escaped her too. She added, “Just like the rest of us.”

Lance hummed in agreement. 

Several customers trickled in so Allura hurried to help Coran. Lance sat on one of the stools by the counter so he could chat away with the two while they worked.

Shiro had left a while ago, but Lance still didn’t feel like leaving, and Allura and Coran didn’t seem to mind his presence.

During a lull, Allura said to Lance, “You know when I was always on my phone a while back?”

Lance thought back and nodded. “Coran told us you were talking to Shiro. He worded it to make it sound like you two were dating.”

Allura shot her uncle a look, but Coran looked away and whistled innocently. She turned back to Lance and said, “Yes, it was Shiro. It was when he realized he might be crushing on Adam, and so he was asking me for advice.” Allura snickered. “He was panicking so much to every little thing and kept asking me for love advice. It was adorable! I’m so glad Adam seems to be receptive to Shiro’s feelings, though Shiro doesn’t seem to realize it. He’s too busy being scared he’ll mess something up.”

“Wow,” Lance said then paused as it registered. “Wait, he’s in the same position as me!”

“Mmmhmmmm.” Allura nodded, giving Lance a weighted look. “He’s scared of ruining his friendship with Adam, but it’s so obvious they like each other.” Allura sighed dramatically. “It’s painful watching two people who show clear signs of mutual feelings dance around each other all the time.”

“Yeah well, at least Shiro’s guaranteed his happy ending,” Lance muttered, flicking at his straw. “Keith can barely look at me for long lately.” He threw his arms up and despaired, “He hates me!”

“Oh, Lance,” Allura said, giving him a sympathetic pat. “Things will work themselves out. As Shiro says, patience yields focus. It’ll be okay. Just be patient with him.”

Lance nodded, taking comfort in Allura’s words.

He then smirked. “Shiro said that? Was it like a DnD line?”

Allura let out an unflattering snort, and it made Lance smile a bit more to see she felt open enough with him now to act more freely like this.

She responded thoughtfully, “I would imagine so, but it was something he told me long before getting roped into DnD with me and Coran.”

“I guess I’ll just have to be patient and hope Keith stops hating me someday,” Lance said with a half-hearted shrug, trying for nonchalant, but Allura saw right through him.

“Keith doesn’t hate you,” Allura said firmly. “Just be patient, and I’m sure Keith will come around to talking to you like normal again.”

Her strong voice had Lance believing her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Random fact about me: I have a thing against ketchup. Never liked it as far back as I can remember.)


End file.
